By Mary Edwards, The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS – Ohioans who get their health-care coverage through the Affordable Care Act’s federal marketplace can relax a bit; those 25-percent-average premium spikes in the news since Monday won’t apply in many cases here.
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In fact, in Cleveland, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the premium for one popular plan used as a benchmark actually will go down by $5 for a hypothetical consumer who is 40, doesn’t smoke and earns $30,000 per year. In Columbus, according to a health-care advocacy group, the monthly premium for the same plan for the same hypothetical person will rise by about 4.5 percent.
Then there’s the fact that the double-digit rate increases reported by federal health officials on Monday don’t take into account the government subsidies available to people whose incomes are less than 400 percent of the federal poverty level — under $97,200 for a family of four. For that plan, most people who qualify for subsidies won’t see any increase.
“Premiums don’t tell the whole story,” said Kathleen Gmeiner of the Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio. Along with subsidies, different plans have different deductibles and co-pays, she said. “If people are willing to do some shopping, they may not have to see much of any increase in their premium.”
The Ohio Department of Insurance, which is critical of Obamacare, counters that other consumers will see large increases, estimating that, averaging across all available plans and customer characteristics, unsubsidized premiums in Ohio will rise by about 12 percent.
“Obamacare isn’t working because it was designed by people who don’t understand how insurance works,” Insurance Director and Lt. Governor Mary Taylor said. “As a result, premiums keep going up and consumer choice is being eliminated.”