At Least 8.4 Million to Face Stiff Health Care Premium Hikes

At least 8.4 million consumers buying health insurance on the Obamacare exchanges for 2017 will bear the brunt of the across-the-board premium increases health insurers set for 2017 policies, according to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal. Seven million of them will be those who purchase policies outside the federal and state health insurance exchanges, which offer federal subsidies depending on income qualifications. The rest will sign up online with Obamacare exchanges but earn too much for a subsidy. To qualify for a subsidy on the official exchanges, an individual or family cannot earn more than four times the federal poverty level — about $47,000 for a single adult or $95,000 for a family of four. Premium hikes are averaging about 25 percent for 2017 as insurance companies seek to recoup losses generated by the high number of older and sicker individuals buying insurance after the Affordable Care Act (ACA) lifted all restrictions on pre-existing conditions. Some estimates place the number of non-exchange consumers at 9 million or more.