2018 rates for ACA plans expected to climb even higher

Update: 5 carriers have filed rate proposals for 2018 plans, the same number of carriers offering plans on healthcare.gov in 2017. The state Insurance Department says more information about rates will be released after Memorial Day.

(Harrisburg) — The more than 400,000 Pennsylvanians who buy insurance on healthcare.gov can expect to pay more next year, as insurers submit their rate requests today.

This is just the first step in the process.

But in Virginia, insurance companies have asked to raise premiums about 30 percent for 2018 plans.

In Maryland, one of the largest insurers asked for a more than 50 percent increase.

Today’s the deadline for insurers to file in the commonwealth, but Pennsylvania’s numbers won’t be public for a while.

Cynthia Cox with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation says actuaries have to build in a cushion because of the chaos in Washington.

“Well, this really is an unprecedented amount of uncertainty that insurance companies are facing right now. And it’s equally hard to know what is an appropriate rate given all of the uncertainty that insurers face,” says Cox.

Cox says because so much is up in the air, insurers don’t know how many people might sign up next year, how healthy those people may be, and other critical factors.

She adds that rising health care costs usually are the main factor in higher premiums, but not this year.

“It seems that a lot of what’s driving the premium growth is the uncertainty that insurance companies have faced both in implementing the Obamacare plans but also new uncertainty from the Trump administration and Congress,” says Cox.

Pennsylvania’s Insurance Commissioner will evaluate the rate requests, and has the power to order changes.