Sign up for our daily briefing
Make your busy days simpler with Axios AM/PM. Catch up on what's new and why it matters in just 5 minutes.
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Denver news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Denver
Des Moines news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Des Moines
Minneapolis-St. Paul news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Twin Cities
Tampa Bay news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Tampa Bay
Charlotte news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Charlotte
Matt Rourke / AP
Pennsylvania consumers who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act are in line for some price shock next year — if the Trump administration and Congress take actions that weaken the law.
That was the blunt warning issued today by Insurance Commissioner Teresa Miller. Pennsylvania's 2018 individual ACA rate increases, aggregated across the five insurers that will sell plans:
- If the individual mandate is repealed and cost-sharing subsidies are not paid: 36.3%
- If nothing is changed: 8.8%
What this means: Health insurers have made it clear that to keep premiums stable, they need the cost-sharing subsidies and mandate requiring everyone buy insurance. Higher rates would be a direct result of President Trump and Congress undermining the ACA as it is written.
Worth noting: While an 8.8% premium hike for individual plans and 6.6% increase for small-employer plans are more in line with medical cost trends, those rates are still well above inflation and would be felt more by people who don't receive subsidies.