The rates for next year’s Obamacare plans are out, and they show how President Trump’s actions have scrambled the insurance marketplace.
Usually, plans known as gold have higher monthly premiums but lower out-of-pocket costs than “silver” plans, which have tended to cost less each month and have been the most popular plans.
But this month, Mr. Trump carried out a longstanding threat and ended certain subsidies for insurers. To compensate for the lost funding, insurers increased the prices of their plans — heavily in the silver category and less so in others.
Now the silver plans will be more expensive in many markets than gold plans that have much lower deductibles. For people who qualify for government subsidies, that’s good news: Their subsidies will rise with the rising cost of silver plans, and they’ll be able to afford a plan that requires much less out-of-pocket spending for their health care. For those who don’t, it highlights just how expensive many silver plans have gotten as a result of the president’s action, and how hard people may need to work to find an affordable option.
The least expensive gold option for next year is cheaper than the least expensive silver option in about a sixth of counties using Healthcare.Gov to market plans, as you can see on our map. Gold is a better option in much of New Mexico, Wyoming, Kansas, and parts of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia. There are also a substantial number of counties in Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Michigan where the price difference between a gold plan and a silver plan with a much higher deductible is smaller than $25 a month.
