- Health Insurers' Proposed 2018 Rate Hikes Are Early 'Warning Signs' Modern Healthcare by Shelby Livingston—Health insurers are asking state regulators to approve giant rate increases for 2018 individual policies, in part because they don't yet know if the Trump administration plans to help or hurt the Affordable Care Act's health insurance exchanges. Insurers in the three states that have published requested rates say their double-digit hikes, which exceed 50 percent in some cases, may climb even higher if the federal government doesn't take steps to ease their jitters over ACA repeal-and-replace efforts by funding cost-sharing reduction subsidies and enforcing the mandate that requires most people to enroll in coverage.
- Early Proposed Rates for ACA Health Plans Hint at a Jump in Premiums for 2018 Washington Post by Amy Goldstein—Early clues suggest that health insurance prices in Affordable Care Act marketplaces could jump again for the coming year, defying predictions that premium rates would begin to level off. Amid the uncertainties hovering over those marketplaces as the Trump administration and a Republican Congress try to dismantle major parts of the law, many states have postponed for another few months their spring deadlines for insurers to report how much they want to charge for ACA health plans in 2018.
- More Price Hikes Likely for Government Insurance Markets AP by Tom Murphy—Early moves by insurers suggest that another round of price hikes and limited choices will greet insurance shoppers around the country when they start searching for next year's coverage on the public markets established by the Affordable Care Act. Insurance companies are still making decisions about whether to offer coverage for individuals next year on these markets, and price increase requests are only just starting to be revealed by state regulators. But in recent weeks big insurers like Aetna and Humana have been dropping out of markets or saying that they aren't ready to commit. And regulators in Virginia and Maryland have reported early price hike requests ranging from just under 10 percent to more than 50 percent.