{"id":13793,"date":"2016-10-20T11:33:11","date_gmt":"2016-10-20T11:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=13793"},"modified":"2016-10-20T11:33:11","modified_gmt":"2016-10-20T11:33:11","slug":"obamacare-enrollment-projected-to-grow-9-in-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/health\/obamacare-enrollment-projected-to-grow-9-in-2017.html","title":{"rendered":"Obamacare enrollment projected to grow 9% in 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Obamacare enrollment projected to grow 9% in 2017<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Obamacare enrollment projected to grow 9% in 2017:-<\/strong> Obamacare enrollment is expected to grow 9% to an average of 11.4 million in 2017, administration officials said Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Enrollment next year is critical for the president’s signature health reform law.<\/span><\/p>\n

Large insurers, including Aetna (AET) and UnitedHealthcare (UNH), are scaling back participation, and remaining carriers are hiking premiums to cut losses from sicker-than-expected enrollees.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some 10.4 million people were enrolled in Obamacare plans as of June 30, the administration announced.<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s down from 11.1 million at the end of March.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some 10 million are expected to be enrolled at year’s end.<\/span><\/p>\n

People regularly move in and out of Obamacare as they gain or lose jobs, get married or divorced or have babies, so enrollment figures change from month to month.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aware of the importance of enrollment season, which runs Nov. 1 to Jan. 31, administration officials are trying harder to reach the uninsured.<\/span><\/p>\n

About 10.7 million Americans who remain uninsured are eligible for coverage through Obamacare.<\/span><\/p>\n

The administration is particularly targeting younger, healthier folks with social and mobile messages, running ads on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitch, a social network for gamers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some 40% of uninsured 18- to 34-year-olds are eligible to enroll.<\/span><\/p>\n

Officials are also reaching out to the estimated 2.5 million people who bought individual plans outside the Obamacare exchanges and qualify for subsidies.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the IRS will contact people who paid a penalty or received an exemption for remaining uninsured.<\/span><\/p>\n

The penalty for going without coverage in 2016 increased to $695 per adult, or 2.5% of household income, whichever is larger.<\/span><\/p>\n

The administration expects 3.5 million uninsured people to enroll next year, and 1.1 million more to switch from coverage outside the exchanges to Obamacare plans.<\/span><\/p>\n

About 9.2 million are projected to re-enroll.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Ultimately the marketplace is strong and will continue to be strong because it is offering a product that people want and they need,” Health Secretary Sylvia Burwell said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The projected increase is roughly in line with last year’s growth, said Larry Levitt, senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation.<\/span><\/p>\n

He called it a reasonable goal that would be encouraging to insurers.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Any growth in enrollment is important, both because it brings in healthier people and it sends a signal to insurers that things are improving,” he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

While experts say talk of Obamacare being in a death spiral is overblown, the program is going through a rocky period.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many people signing up for coverage next year will find they must switch carriers or have fewer choices after several insurers pulled out of many markets.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some 19% of enrollees will only have a single company to choose from, up from 2% this year, according to a Kaiser analysis published in August. And 38% of enrollees may have only two insurers in their exchanges.<\/span><\/p>\n

Enrollees will also probably face sticker shock as insurers hike premiums to bring them more in line with costs.<\/span><\/p>\n

A preliminary Kaiser analysis found insurers requested an average 9% increase for the benchmark plan for 2017, up from 2% for this year — and the foundation expects that average to climb higher now that final rates are in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some people will see even higher spikes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pennsylvania just announced that rates for all Obamacare <\/span>plans there will jump an average of 32.5% next year.<\/span><\/p>\n

That means it’s even more vital for enrollees to shop around.<\/span><\/p>\n

The vast majority of enrollees receive federal subsidies that limit their premiums to less than 10% of their monthly income if they pick the benchmark plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

“People are going to see a lot of changes,” said Levitt. “There will be quite a bit of upheaval this year as premiums increase faster and some insurers leave the market.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if rates next year increase by 25%, most Obamacare enrollees will be able to find coverage for less than $75 a month after subsidies, a recent federal analysis found.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/www.kolotv.com\/content\/news\/Obamacare-enrollment-projected-to-grow-9-in-2017-397712021.html<\/span><\/p>\n

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