Our friend Charles Gaba is keeping an eye on premium rates in Obamacare plans for 2015. He features this post from PricewaterhouseCoopers on the latest six states to report.
Among the six states and DC with final rate announcements, the average premium (across metal tiers and ages) is about $328, and the average premium increase from 2014 is 2.6 percent. By contrast, the average premium increase across all reporting states is 5.9 percent and the average premium is $382.
Note that’s the pre-subsidy premium cost. There are a few outliers—Colorado being an example, with a crazy range from -22 percent to +35 percent—that have double-digit increases. But those are the minority. And, as Gaba notes, these rates are far from what was predicted throughout the year. They’re also far from the double-digit increases that have been the norm for employer-based insurance for the past several years, at least.
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What this means is not only that Obamacare is a good deal for its customers, it’s a good deal for taxpayers. Healthcare spending is slowing down, tremendously. Covering millions through Obamacare is costing far less than predicted. Medicare is saving so much money it’s beating every deficit reduction plan that’s been proposed in the last several years. Repeal all that, Republicans.
