The average benchmark premiums for the Obamacare plans are expected to reach up to 15% by next year, in comparison to the year 2017. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO)predicted this increase in the premiums.
The CBO notes, “In 2018, the agencies project, the average benchmark premium will be roughly 15% higher than it was in 2017, largely because of short-term market uncertainty—in particular, insurers’ uncertainty about whether federal funding for certain subsidies that are currently available will continue to be provided.”
Premiums for the benchmark plans are expected to increase by a steady five percent every year starting in 2017, and continuing through to 2027.
The average premiums projected by the budget office are expected to be $3,400 for 21-year-olds. For those that are 45-year-old premiums are expected to rise to $4,800, and for 64-year-olds, premiums are projected to cost a shocking $9,800.
According to the report, “The costs of those subsidies are partly offset by taxes and penalties related to health insurance coverage that the federal government collects … Provided that current law did not change, the net federal subsidy for health insurance coverage for people under age 65—that is, the cost of all the subsidies minus the taxes and penalties—would be about $705 billion in 2017 and would total $9.2 trillion over the 2018-2027 period.”
The report also reveals an even more important detail, the total number of uninsured individuals will continue to increase, at increasingly rapid rates.
The Budget office said, “”For 2026, the agencies’ projection of the number of people obtaining subsidized coverage through the marketplaces is now 4 million smaller, and the projected number of uninsured people is now 3 million larger, than they were in CBO’s March 2016 baseline projections.” It added to the insight by saying, “Between 2017 and 2018, the number of uninsured people rises by 2 million in the agencies’ projections, mainly because premiums in the nongroup market are expected to be higher.”