Some premiums on the federal health exchange for 2015 are going up. Some are going down. That’s all the public really knows right now.
But it appears that the big idea behind the marketplace — creating competition — may be working, since three new companies have joined the 11 early adopters, according to Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation.
Elizabeth Carpenter of Avalere Health, a consulting company.
Credit Avalere.com
The OIR released a forecast for a 13 percent premium hike for 2015 plans on the federal marketplace (Healthcare.gov) earlier this week.
Then the White House released a counter-punch on Wednesday, saying that the plans that most patients enroll in — the second-lowest-priced “silver” ones — are actually getting more affordable.
About 75 percent of Floridians live in areas where the second-cheapest silver premium will actually decline, said Tasha Bradley, a spokeswoman for the federal Department of Health and Human Services.