Costs could go up by as much as 45 percent.
Skyrocketing ACA Premiums Could Be Coming
At the beginning of August, proposed
2017 premiums for Illinois health insurance plans were released, and the
numbers aren’t good.
The Chicago Tribune reported that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois
has proposed rate hikes of 23 to 45 percent for individual healthcare plans
purchased through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. BCBS-IL said the premium
increases were in line with many markets across the country and are the result
of the rise in medical services costs.
Next, the Illinois Department of
Insurance will work on negotiating the proposed increases down, with a looming
deadline of Aug. 23. However, at the end of the day, Illinois doesn’t have the
power to reject the proposed rates outright.
Kim Clarke Maisch, NFIB/IL’s state
director, released a statement in response to the sought-after premium spikes:
“I don’t think anyone’s surprised to find out that the
Affordable Care Act isn’t the cure-all that a lot of politicians promised it
would be. The fact of the matter is that the cost of basic health insurance is
still too expensive for a lot of small businesses and their employees. That’s
why this year’s elections are so important. We have to elect leaders who
understand what it means to own and work for a small business and will do
everything they can to enact meaningful reforms that make things better, not
worse.”
