The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act won't cause widespread increases in premiums on the individual insurance market, according to a RAND Corp. report.
Analysts found the U.S. overall and five of the 10 states they examined — Texas, Florida, Kansas, South Carolina and Pennsylvania — will see no change in individual health insurance premiums under the law. However, Minnesota, North Dakota and Ohio could see premium increases of up to 43 percent, according to the report.
In Louisiana and New Mexico, premiums standardized for age, actuarial value and tobacco use could decline under the reform law. In states where premiums go up, people could still pay less out-of-pocket for insurance coverage if they qualify for federal tax credits to cover part of their premiums, according to the report.
The PPACA won't produce significant overall changes in small group or small business premiums either, analysts found. Small group premiums standardized for age, actuarial value and tobacco use will remain unchanged for the U.S. overall and nine states — Texas, South Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Louisiana, Minnesota, Kansas and Florida, according to the report. Read more here
