Early Gov Data on 2015 Obamacare Premiums Shows Encouraging Trends But Data Incomplete

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- When examining average premiums for individually-purchased health insurance, early data released by the government evidenced stable rates without the dramatic increases that had marked the first year of the Affordable Care Act. The government's data, which was missing 12 states and Washington D.C., showed a 12% decrease in the average premium of a bronze plan, 0% increase in the average premium for silver and gold plans, and a 20% increase in the average premium of platinum plans. All averages on government health plan data covering 38 states and was compared to a 2014 release of government data that had covered 34 states. Premium subsidies were not included as part of the analysis nor was weighting based on projected plan enrollment.

One of the factors that may have positively influenced the average premiums observed in the 2015 market is increased competition. Earlier this year, Health & Human Services announced an estimated increase of 25% more insurance issuers on exchanges in 2015 than was the case for 2014.  In the 44 states for which the government had data for this insurer estimate, 77 new insurance issuers were documented.

"Average premiums are a helpful barometer of the options available to consumers in the market and the government's data release has some encouraging trends especially with respect to metal plans other than platinum," said Kev Coleman, Head of Research & Data at HealthPocket, "however, the data the government released is partial and HealthPocket is planning on running a more comprehensive analysis in the near future that will include premium data from all states as well as off-exchange plans."

The complete results of the study of the government data can be viewed at "Early Gov Data on 2015 Obamacare Premiums Shows Encouraging Trends But Data Incomplete."

HealthPocket.com is a free website that compares and ranks all health insurance plans, helping individuals, families, and small businesses to make their best health plan decisions. HealthPocket publishes health insurance market analyses and other consumer advocacy research. HealthPocket's research is nonpartisan and uses only objective data from government, non-profit, and private sources that carry no conditions that might restrict the site from serving as an unbiased resource. HealthPocket, Inc. is independently managed and based in Sunnyvale, California. Learn more at www.HealthPocket.com.

SOURCE HealthPocket

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