As health insurers map out their rates for the 2017 Affordable Care Act exchanges, many intend to hike up their premiums, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Here are five things to know about insurers raising their premium prices.
1. Insurers are asking for hefty increases — up to more than 30 percent. Anthem in Virginia is requesting an average increase of 15.8 percent. Providence Health Plan in Oregon is hoping for a raise of 29.6 percent, while Oregon's Moda Health Plan is looking for a 32.3 percent average increase.
2. Many insurers are raising rates because their ACA plan enrollees had higher-than-predicted healthcare costs. These costs resulted in the insurers losing money. "It's a pretty good bet if a plan lost money in 2016, it will adjust pricing in 2017," said Sam Glick, a partner with consulting firm Oliver Wyman, according to the report.
3. Certain health insurers are taking a different approach and are quitting the exchanges altogether. In April, UnitedHealthcare said it planned to exit the ACA marketplace and remain only in a "handful" of states in 2017. Earlier this week, Humana said it is considering dropping out of the exchanges in specific states.
4. Some insurers are increasing rates for other reasons. For example, Aetna has claimed "the phasing out of two programs designed to stabilize the [ACA] exchanges would push up the prices of exchange plans by about 6 percent in 2017," according to the report. Raj Bal, an insurance industry consultant, believes UnitedHealthcare's departure may cause other insurers to raise their rates. These insurers will have to take in UnitedHealthcare's expensive former enrollees.
5. Premium hikes aren't set in stone. The rate increases have to be approved by regulators before they can go into effect. In addition, low-income customers likely won't take the full blow of rate increases due their eligibility for tax credits.