Montanans with marketplace health insurance plans will pay significantly more starting next year. That’s because premiums are likely to spike just as federal benefits that help pay those bills expire.
Insurance companies ask the federal government to approve premium rate increases for marketplace plans every year. Last year, the average increase nationwide was about 7%. This year it’ll be about 20%. Montana insurers are asking for even larger increases.
BlueCross BlueShield Montana is asking for a roughly 28% increase. Montana Health Cooperative wants to raise premiums 25%.
“Most consumers will face a double whammy of sorts, of both higher insurance bills and losing much of the subsidy that lowers the cost of these monthly premiums,” said Matt McGough with KFF, a health policy think tank.
Because of that double whammy, most people will see the cost of their monthly premium shoot up by roughly 75%.
KFF estimates 15,000 Montanans will go without insurance because they can’t afford that increase. Many of those people dropping insurance are expected to be younger, healthier people. That leaves more older and sicker people on the rolls. McGough says insurance companies need to account for that shift.
“As this underlying risk pool that insurers now have to cover is going to get sicker, this means that premiums are going to increase,” he said.
BlueCross BlueShield of Montana said in a statement to MTPR that its requested increase assumes “enhanced federal premium tax credits will expire at the end of 2025.” Congress could still act to renew those subsidies before the end of the year, but may be unlikely as the Trump administration seeks to lower federal health care spending.
McGough says you can try to save money by shopping around. You can also transition to a cheaper, lower tier marketplace plan. If you do, he says be prepared to pay significantly more when you do go to a hospital or doctor’s office.
