Didn’t Obama promise rates would go down?
Via GF Tribune:
With the marketplace for health insurance now open, Montanans are beginning to see letters from their providers that their premiums are increasing — some to the tune of more than 30 percent.
However, officials with the Montana Office of Securities and Insurance want to assure people that if they qualify for the tax credit subsidy their rates likely won’t increase much, if at all.
“That rate (in the letters) is half the story,” said Jennifer McKee, spokeswoman for Commissioner Monica Lindeen.
McKee said 85 percent of Montanans who purchased their health insurance on the marketplace last year qualified for the tax credit, which can be applied in two different ways. People can have the tax credit deducted from their monthly premium payment or take it all in one lump sum once a year.
McKee said the tax credit is based on income and is set by a benchmark plan level. People have the choice of applying for bronze, silver, gold and platinum plans. The cost of the premium goes up with each plan, but so do the coverage options. McKee said no plan goes above a 40 percent individual payment once a deductible is hit.
“Most people buy the silver plan,” McKee said.
Montana’s health insurance rates went up for a variety of reasons, she said. Montana does not have health maintenance organizations, which regulate costs in other states. There is also a component to cost increases because of “pent-up demand.” McKee said there are people who would not have been able to afford health insurance before the Affordable Care Act marketplace launched in 2014. Because of this, those who were sick were delaying their care. Now they are flooding the market.