Rate increases in the Health Insurance Marketplace: Should we freak out or chill out?

Photo: Andriy Solovyov

In a vacation season when many of us want a break from alarming news, the world seems not to be cooperating. And that includes the health care industry. (A shame, that: “Health” and “care” could be such soothing words.)

We hear that we should be alarmed about proposed rate hikes in the subsidized Health Insurance Marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act (“ObamaCare”). But before we freak out, let’s take a deep collective breath and remember a couple of things.

First, proposed Marketplace rate increases probably don’t apply to you. Out of the 26.7 million Texans, slightly more than half of us — 52 percent, about 14 million — have employer-sponsored insurance. Another 13 percent are retirees covered under Medicare, and 17 percent are low-income children and pregnant mothers covered by Medicaid.

Just over a million Texans are insured via the federal Marketplace, and it’s only to them that the proposed rate increases may apply. (Most of the remaining 4 million-plus Texans are uninsured; they fall into the coverage gap.)

Read more in the Houston Chronicle: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/gray-matters/article/2016-the-summer-of-ObamaCare-9134773.php?t=4b3abc52d0