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October 25, 2016 at 01:48 PM
The median benchmark exchange plan premium will increase 16 percent in the 38 HealthCare.gov states, but the median may not have much to do with what’s happening in your state.
For an Affordable Care Act exchange plan, the benchmark rate is the “second-lowest silver premium” available in a market. That benchmark is important because managers of the ACA premium tax credit program use the benchmark to set subsidy levels.
Related: View: Cost of cheapest PPACA plans is soaring
In the HealthCare.gov states, the average cost of the second-lowest-cost silver plan will actually fall 3 percent in one state, Indiana, and rise 116 percent in Arizona.
Analysts at the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, a planning arm at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, have published those figures in a new 2017 HealthCare.gov rate snapshot.
The analysts also show how that benchmark rate increases could affect what a 27-year-old in a state will pay for 2017 exchange plan coverage.
In Indiana, the cost of benchmark plan coverage for a 27-year-old will fall to $229 from $235. The premium for a 27-year-old in Arizona will soar to $422 from $196.
Benchmark rates will rise in 37 HealthCare.gov states. In those, the benchmark rate will rise less than 10 percent in eight states and rise more than 50 percent in six states.
For a 27-year-old, the actual 2017 benchmark premium will range from a low of $219 in New Hampshire to a high of $760 in Alaska.
