Obamacare Health Insurance Premiums Expected To Climb In Louisiana

While the national average is decreasing by 4%, health insurance rates in Louisiana for those policies available in the Obamacare marketplace will see an average premium increase of 10% in 2020.  Deputy commissioner with the Louisiana Department of Insurance Frank Opelka says part of the reason is that Louisiana saw a rate decreases between 2018 and 2019.

“If you look at last year, our rates went down about 6.5% in a climate where just about every other state was continuing to go up,” said Opelka.

Opelka says the number of people who have insurance through the Affordable Care has fallen below 100,000 in the state, due to the expansion of the Medicaid program.

“The commercial market, the ACA market, at its peak was around 220,000 lives,” said Opelka.

Opelka says most individual health care market policyholders will not have to pay for the rate increases, because their premiums are subsidized by the feds.

“Rate increases for that population that receives the subsidies really don’t affect the population themselves, so their premium rates go up, but in tandem with that, the federal subsidy actually increases,” said Opelka.

Annual enrollment for the program begins November 1 for 2020 coverage.