Typical individual health insurance policy users who are willing to change plans within a metal level may be able to hold 2017 premium increases to less than 10 percent.
See also: PPACA World 2017: Rates might not be THAT bad
Analysts at Avalere Health, an independent research firm, have published numbers supporting that conclusion in a review of 2017 individual health rate proposals from nine jurisdictions that have posted 2017 filings online: Indiana, Maryland, Maine, New York, Oregon, Virginia, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia.
The review included six jurisdictions with locally run Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) exchange programs and three states that use the HealthCare.gov exchange system.
The analysts compared actual premiums for 2016 with proposed premiums for 2017, using a 50-year-old male nonsmoker as their standard shopper.
For the standard shopper, the average cost of mid-level, silver-level coverage could rise 16 percent in the nine jurisdictions included, to $521 per month, according to the analysis.
The average cost of the cheapest silver plan in each jurisdction is on track to rise 7 percent, to $411, and the average cost of the second-cheapest silver plan may rise 8 percent, the analysts found.