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Health insurance

More insurers, more plans on federal healthcare exchange

Jayne O'Donnell, and Meghan Hoyer
USA TODAY

Average changes for health plan premiums on the federal insurance exchange vary wildly; some consumers in Tennessee will see up to 40% increases, but other places will experience large decreases, according to a USA TODAY analysis of data released Friday for Healthcare.gov, which covers 34 states.

The Department of Health and Human Services released the data ahead of open enrollment, which starts Saturday.

In Mississippi, the average price of bronze plans, which have the lowest premiums, decreased by 20%, while Georgia showed an average decrease at that level of 5.6%. In nearby Louisiana, bronze plan premiums increased by 12%, the analysis shows.

Premiums for platinum plans, which cost the most, had large increases in several states. In Ohio, the average platinum plan will be nearly twice as much as last year.

Overall, the average changes were far below the average 10% increase in premiums for individual insurance before the Affordable Care Act. That's except for platinum plans, which also have the lowest out-of-pocket costs and had an average increase in 2015 of 20%. Bronze plans, which have the lowest premiums and highest cost sharing, had premiums increases of just 3%.

"The bottom line is that exchange enrollees' 2015 premiums will vary widely based on geography," said Elizabeth Carpenter, a director at Avalere Health, which did its own analysis of the data. "Consumers should be wary of reports detailing national or state-wide premium changes and should instead focus on the details of their particular plan."

The USA TODAY analysis also shows how competition is increasing in many parts of the country. About 75% of the counties on the federal healthcare exchange have at least one more insurance plan this year than last, and many states have far more.

Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio all have significantly more offerings. Florida, which had an unusually large number of plans last year, saw some decrease in offerings, the analysis shows.

The findings underscore the importance of shopping around for those who already have insurance as well as the uninsured, something the administration and other healthcare experts all emphasize. Most people who bought a plan last year on Healthcare.gov will find at least one plan that is less expensive in the same level of coverage, HHS says

Other analyses of data on silver plans, which offer the second lowest-cost premiums, have found wide variations in increases and decreases, but a small average change across the board. The price of these plans is especially important because subsidies available to lower-income consumers are based upon these benchmark plans.

Kaiser Family Foundation found that average premiums decreased by 0.2%. But its data show some areas that had especially low prices last year, such as Minneapolis, had the biggest premium increases for their benchmark plans. Big swings in prices are typically related to insurers adjusting their prices to reflect their claims experiences with new customers or new insurers leaving or joining the market.

There are 77 new health insurance issuers selling plans in the marketplaces in 2015, up 25% from last year, HHS says. Georgia, for example, has five more insurance companies offering individual plans for 2015, while Michigan has four more.

Margaret Brawner of Charlotte, N.C. sees how competition can help. She has just two insurance companies to choose from where she lives and the plan she had last year went up from $476 a month to $542, both with a $6,500 deductible.

She's decided to go without insurance, at least until she moves to South Carolina next year, "one of the reasons being Obamacare is better priced (there) because there are more companies competing for your business," Brawner says.

Tell us your open enrollment story at healthinsurance@usatoday.com

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