Today marks the opening of Covered California, the state’s health insurance marketplace. People wanting to enroll, change, or renew their plans have from November 1, 2016 to January 31, 2017 to do so.
While the price of Affordable Care Act premiums is increasing nationally by roughly 22 percent, it’s not increasing as substantially in California. On average, the benchmark plan is going up by 13.2 percent statewide, and the majority of those enrolled in California are eligible for health care subsidies and won’t have to pay their full premium amount.
Experts say California’s health care marketplace has more stability than other states’ exchanges for several reasons, including California’s large size and large enrollment numbers (approximately 1.4 million), and a greater number of insurers, which leads to more competition. California also appropriately estimated prices from the start of Obamacare three years ago, meaning premium increases haven’t been as significant as some other states that initially priced their plans too low.
There are 11 health insurance companies offering a variety of plans for the 2017 year. James Scullary, a spokesman for Covered California, says 92 percent of consumers have the choice of three or more health plans, and all consumers have at least two to choose from.
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