12.4% Surcharge Slapped on Obamacare Plans For Californians

image
Author: Jeff Powers
Created: 11 Oct, 2017
Updated: 21 Nov, 2022
1 min read

In August, Covered California announced that 2018 premiums would rise 12.5 percent statewide.  But the exchange also warned that additional hikes could be in store if President Trump failed to commit to continued funding for the cost-sharing subsidies that educe some consumers’ out-of-pocket expenses.

Sure enough, the subsidies appear to be ending, and so to is Obamacare's affordability for many Californian's.

California’s health exchange announced it has ordered insurers to add a surcharge to certain policies next year. The decision to add a 12.4 percent surcharge on silver-level health plans in 2018 means the total premium increase for them will average nearly 25 percent.

But get this, according to Covered California, taxpayers, not consumers, will feel the brunt of the extra hike because federal premium assistance for policyholders, which is pegged to the cost of coverage, will also increase.

Californians can get their first look at next year’s health plan prices and options on the state’s rate calculator, released Wednesday. The state’s open enrollment period runs from Nov. 1 to Jan. 31.

About 1.4 million Californians buy their own coverage through the state marketplace and nearly 90 percent receive financial assistance that reduces what they pay.

Latest articles

Boston
Boston City Council Backs Ranked Choice Voting Home Rule Petition in 8–4 Vote
On May 14, the Boston City Council voted 8–4 in favor of a Home Rule Petition allowing voters to rank candidates in order of preference, a shift that could change how Bostonians elect their leaders....
14 May, 2025
-
3 min read
Man in suit sitting at desk writing on a document with a stethoscope on the desk and a map of California in the background.
AB 955 Revisited: How to Expand Cross-Border Care Without Sacrificing Patient Protections
IVN recently examined AB 955, by Assemblymember David Alvarez. The bill seeks to expand a healthcare service program I created in 1998 as the author of SB1658....
14 May, 2025
-
4 min read
A pharmacist handing a customer prescription medication.
Gov. Newsom Targets Prescription Drug Middlemen in New Reform Proposal
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is reviving efforts to regulate the powerful and often opaque intermediaries at the center of the prescription drug supply chain. In a proposal unveiled as part of his revised May budget, Newsom calls for stringent oversight of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), companies he says are driving up patient costs....
14 May, 2025
-
2 min read