Obamacare Sticker Shock: Average 2017 Premium Surges 24%

The reference, of course, was to the state by state surge in proposed 2017 Obamacare premiums, contrasted with what the government contends is a modest 1.0% inflation rate.

Now, courtesy of a new study by independent analyst Charles Gaba - who has crunched the numbers for insurers participating in the ACA exchanges in all 50 states - we can also calculate what the average Obamacare premium increase across the entire US will be: using proposed and approved rate increase requests, the average Obamacare premium is expected to surge by a whopping 24% this year.

As Politico notes, Cigna and Humana recently revised their rate requests in Tennessee, and the new filings are dramatically higher. Cigna is now asking for a 46% average increase, up from 23%, and Humana is requesting a 44% increase, up from 29%, The Tennessean reported on Friday. Expect these numbers to rise even more as insurance companies exit even more states.

So far, the average approved rate increase is roughly 17% according to weighted averages across just five states, Mississippi, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont, Gaba reports. "Combined, all [five states] only make up around 6.3 percent of the total population," Gaba writes. "The numbers will no doubt jump around quite a bit as additional, larger states are plugged into the mix."

Here is what Charles Gaba calculated:

[I] noted that since I originally crunched the numbers for some states as far back as April, the situation in some states has likely changed somewhat due to carriers dropping out, joining in or re-submitting their rate request filings.

There have been significant changes to the requested rate filings in at least four states: Arizona, Connecticut, Maryland and Tennessee. In all four cases, I'm afraid the statewide weighted average has increased, either due to resubmitted filings, a carrier dropping out or both.

As a result of these updates, the national average increase requested now stands at 23.9%, up from the previous average of 23.3%.

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