Open enrollment starts tomorrow for tens of thousands of Iowans who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace, and the premium costs could more than double for many Iowans’ ACA plans.
That’s because federal subsidies expire at the end of this year, if Congress doesn’t approve an extension.
Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen says Iowans who are enrolling in ACA plans should seek help.
“It’s really going to be important this year to seek out some professional advice from an insurance agent,” Ommen says, “They can come to our website, gather some information about identifying individuals, or call our office.”
The Iowa Insurance Division says insurance carriers are also reporting overall premium increases of more than 25 percent.
Katherine Hempstead, a senior policy officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, says many people are expected to become uninsured due to a sharp increase in their premium costs.
“At the same time that the tax credits are going away, the insurers are reacting by increasing their premiums,” Hempstead says, “because they’re expecting that the market’s going to get selected against a little bit, because healthier people will drop out first.”
Nearly 137,000 Iowans buy their health insurance through the ACA marketplace. Open enrollment goes through January 15th.
(By Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)