NC’s Blue Cross Cutting ‘Obamacare’ Prices Despite Changes

North Carolina’s largest health insurer said Tuesday it’s cutting some individual premiums for the first time in over a quarter century, but next year’s savings on subsidized “Obamacare” coverage would have been much larger if Washington had left the law alone.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina said it proposed prices to state insurance regulators that could lower rates for next year’s Affordable Care Act policies by 4.1 percent on average.

About 85 percent of the savings comes from last year’s federal income tax cut and Congress suspending a tax on insurers for 2019, the Durham-based company said. Blue Cross didn’t describe how much it saved from the tax cut.

The company also will cut costs in 2019 by striking new deals with medical providers in the Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham metro areas.

Blue Cross could have lowered average rates by another 18 percent if Congress and the Trump Administration hadn’t eliminated the penalty for people who don’t buy health coverage and a subsidy to insurers, the company said. The changes added uncertainty for insurers that also are working to hold down rising health care costs, Chief Executive Officer Patrick Conway said.

“We’re moving in the right direction, but even with a lower rate, premiums are still too high — particularly for those who don’t get a subsidy,” Conway said in a statement. About 90 percent of the insurer’s customers with ACA plans qualified for subsidies that helped them afford health insurance coverage.

Blue Cross had sought and received rate increases of between 13.5 percent and 32.5 percent in the four years after the first year ACA-compliant insurance plans began being sold in 2014. Blue Cross said that it lost more than $450 million dollars on the plans in the first three years.

Blue Cross has more than 475,000 ACA customers and has been the only insurer offering the subsidized coverage in all 100 North Carolina counties.

Despite President Donald Trump’s efforts to repeal “Obamacare,” enrollment has stabilized nationally at about 10 million people. After two years of stiff premium hikes, many insurers are making money again. There seems to be little risk of insurers fleeing HealthCare.gov in 2019 as some did in the past.

Several states may see premiums dip, but experts say the outlook is still uncertain and can vary greatly from state to state. Minnesota, which has taken steps to shore up its market, is another state expecting to benefit from lower premiums.

However, insurers are skittish because Trump and the GOP-led Congress repealed the tax penalty for people going uninsured, starting next year. That could entice some healthy people to go without coverage.

“There is a huge range so far among states that have made proposed premium hikes public,” said Larry Levitt of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “There’s no question that insurers are building in increases to account for repeal of the individual mandate penalty. On the other hand, insurers have been very profitable. Given how much money insurance companies are making, it’s hard for them to justify big premium increases.”

‹

PPP: Americans Opposed On Healthcare And HB2, Split On Impeachment

When it comes to healthcare, Americans are surprisingly united against the GOP. (On Neil Gorsuch, we're unsurprisingly apathetic.)

Don't Expect Trump's Speech To Change The Game: PPP

Public opinion about Donald Trump is highly entrenched - so there's not much that will change it one way or another.

Sen. Hagan Approval Slipping in Wake of Obamacare Web Launch

The failed launch of the Obamacare website is acting like gravity for the approval ratings of democrats in Washington D.C.

Trump Says He Will Renew Efforts to Replace ‘Obamacare’ if He Wins a Second Term

Written by JILL COLVIN and ZEKE MILLER Former President Donald Trump threatened over the weekend to reopen the contentious fight over the Affordable Care Act after failing to repeal it while in the White House, saying he is “seriously looking at alternatives” if he wins a second term. Trump’s comments drew rebuke from Democratic President […]

Medicaid Expansion Breakthrough Within Reach in N. Carolina

Written by GARY D. ROBERTSON After a decade of vigorous opposition, most North Carolina Republicans have now embraced the idea of expanding the state’s Medicaid program to cover hundreds of thousands of additional low-income adults. Legislative approval finally appears within reach. During the General Assembly session that ended July 1, the GOP-controlled House and Senate passed separate, bipartisan measures […]

New Poll Shows Majority Support $15 Minimum Wage in NC

A recent poll of North Carolina voters said they believe employment is the most important issue facing the state right now. The Public Policy Polling results also suggest support for an increase to a $15 minimum wage.

High Court Seems Likely to Leave to Health Care Law in Place

Republican elected officials and the Trump administration are advancing their latest arguments to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, a long-held GOP goal.

Health Care Is Focus as Barrett Supreme Court Hearing Opens

Senate Democrats branded Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett a threat to the Affordable Care Act and many Americans’ health care Monday at the start of a fast-tracked hearing that Republicans are confident will end with Barrett’s confirmation to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before Election Day. In a competing effort to approvingly define the 48-year-old Barrett, who […]

Court: Part of 'Obamacare' Invalid, More Review Needed

A federal appeals court on Wednesday struck down “Obamacare’s” now-toothless requirement that Americans carry health insurance but sidestepped a ruling on the law’s overall constitutionality. The decision means the law remains in effect for now. The 2-1 ruling handed down by a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans means […]

NC’s Blue Cross Cutting ‘Obamacare’ Prices Despite Changes

North Carolina’s largest health insurer said Tuesday it’s cutting some individual premiums for the first time in over a quarter century, but next year’s savings on subsidized “Obamacare” coverage would have been much larger if Washington had left the law alone. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina said it proposed prices to state […]

›