The Reasons Behind Rising Premiums

[gtxvideo vid=’KKqAf9lr’ thumb=’http://player.gtxcel.com/thumbs/KKqAf9lr.jpg’ vtitle=’Open Enrollment – Cost of Rising Premiums’]

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) – Health insurance premiums for the Affordable Care Act’s benchmark silver plan for 2017 have risen an average of 22 percent.

University of South Carolina clinical associate professor and economist Robert Hartwig says in Columbia, you’ll see a rise around 29 percent. Hartwig says there are two reasons for the rise.

“Medical costs are going up, as they always do, with an aging and growing population, but primarily what we have is a situation where in the Affordable Care Act, the act itself is attracting more people who are more likely to use the health insurance,” Hartwig said, “so you’re attracting a population that tends to be sicker and tends to be older than the general population, and it’s attracted fewer people that are younger and healthier then they’d hoped. ”

Hartwig says, consequently, you have an unbalanced pool, and thus, a situation where costs are rising faster than anticipated.

Some potential good news: Hartwig says about 80 percent of the people who are in the ACA receive subsidies, and so for those people, the costs are likely to be smaller than the numbers we’ve seen in recent headlines.

Open enrollment for 2017 starts Tuesday, November 1.