Skip to main content

Obamacare Enrollment Kicks Off with Huge Price Spikes, Fewer Providers

CBN

Share This article

Obamacare has been one of the key issues in this year's election, and open enrollment starts Tuesday with huge price increases.

It's sticker shock for many of the people enrolled in Obamacare plans, with sharp price hikes for some plans ranging from 25 percent to over 100 percent.

In addition, surveys show consumers will often have fewer insurance companies or coverage plans to choose from than at any point since President Barack Obama's law took effect.

An analysis by The Associated Press and consulting firm Avalere Health found that about one-third of U.S. counties will have only one health marketplace insurer for 2017. That's more than 1,000 counties in 26 states.

Some insurance companies have lost so much money on Obamacare they've had to scale back or simply drop out.

Many Americans will have to switch doctors when they switch plans.

"Consumers will be faced this year with not only big premium increases but also with a declining number of insurers participating, and that will lead to a tumultuous open enrollment period," said Larry Levitt, who tracks the health care law for the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.

Around 10 million fewer Americans will enroll in Obamacare this year than originally projected.

Phoenix is the market hardest hit by insurer exits, shrinking from eight carriers to one.

"At this point we are at a loss," Ryan Robinso, in Phoenix, said. "We don't know what the next step is."

"Rising premiums get all of the political attention, but lack of choice between insurers could be a bigger problem for consumers," Caroline Pearson, a senior vice president with Avalere, said.

Five states - Alaska, Alabama, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wyoming - have one participating insurer across their entire jurisdictions. Only Wyoming and South Carolina had faced that predicament this year.

Another eight states - Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada and Tennessee - have only one participating insurer in a majority of counties.

Share This article