• Over the first three years of Obamacare, per capita monthly premiums in Pennsylvania increased by 61%, from $241 in 2013 to $389 in 2016.
• Over the first five years of Obamacare, 64% fewer insurers offered Exchange coverage in Pennsylvania, from 14 in 2013 to 5 in 2018.
• 2019 Rate Request: In Pennsylvania, Capital Blue Cross proposes average rate reductions of5.75% and 19.51%for plans offered by its two subsidiaries. In 2018,Capital'ssubsidiaries received rate increases averaging 9.2% and 47.65%. The fourother Pennsylvania individual market insurers are all asking for rate increases in 2019: Geisinger's two subsidiaries propose average increases of 7.9% and 13.23%; UPMC proposes average rate increases of 4.12% and 11.2% for its plans; Independence Blue Cross’s two subsidiaries propose average rate increases of 6.7% and 9.9%; Highmark Blue Cross proposes average rate increases for plans offered by its four subsidiaries of9.4,12.6%,16.5% and19.9%.
• 2019 Rate Finalized: Finalized by mid-October

Health care remains a major focus of the public discussion as premium prices rise and choices dwindle. Throughout the summer and into the fall, Obamacare insurers will announce decisions about the prices they want to charge and plans they want to offer next year, submitting them to regulators for review and approval. Research shows prices have been rising steadily since Obamacare was first implemented, more than doubling in some places because of its failed policies and regulations.

The best way to provide relief for Americans struggling under these heavy burdens is to replace Obamacare with free-market solutions that put patients and doctors—not federal bureaucrats—in charge of health care decisions and dollars.

The three states that have begun to provide this kind of relief – after being granted federal waivers from Obamacare - are seeing rate reductions. Congress should go farther and make it easy for states to take these actions.

This piece was authored by Ed Haislmaier.