Premiums on health plans offered through the federal and state Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) insurance marketplaces rose 8 percent last year, according to a report put out by the Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday.
That means the average policyholder's premium rose from $356 a month to $386 a month. But after the subsidies that are available to 85 percent of buyers were taken into account, the average policyholder's monthly bill increased less than 4 percent, from $102 to $106.
Supporters of the health law have cited the fact that 40 percent of returning PPACA customers changed plans during the most recent open enrollment period, taking advantage of the easily-navigable system to switch to a plan based on price and services.
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That's not to say that some consumers didn't see major price hikes last year. In Minnesota, for instance, which boasted some of the lowest average Obamacare plan prices in 2014, the average premium for the lowest cost silver plans shot up 36 percent. Nevertheless, policyholders in the Gopher State still enjoy lower premiums than average.
The administration is putting out the report before insurers participating in the PPACA marketplaces begin putting in their requests for premium increases for next year. A number of insurers have said that the premiums they have charged over the first two years of the new system simply do not cover the medical expenses incurred by the policyholders.
The largest private insurer, UnitedHealthcare has announced its departure from the marketplaces in Georgia and Arkansas and has threatened to ditch Obamacare entirely in 2017 if it can't turn a profit on its PPACA business this year.
What the conversation about premiums misses, however, is the overall financial burden of PPACA plans on consumers. It is not clear whether the average Obamacare customer is paying more, when taking into account premiums and out-of-pocket costs, for health care than before.
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