A new survey shows that health insurance premiums are increasing at their sharpest rates ever, Forbes reports.
The average increases are in excess of 11 percent in the small group market and 12 percent in the individual market. Some state show increases 10 to 50 times that amount. The analysts conclude that the "increases are largely due to changes under the ACA."
The analysts conducting the survey attribute the rate increases largely to a combination of four factors set in motion by Obamacare: Commercial underwriting restrictions, the age bands that don’t allow insurers to vary premiums between young and old beneficiaries based on the actual costs of providing the coverage, the new excise taxes being levied on insurance plans, and new benefit designs.
Some states are seeing huge rate increases. For example, Delaware and New Hampshire are seeing rate increases of 100 percent and 90 percent, respectively in the individual insurance market. Washington state is seeing a 588 percent increase in the small group market.