Alaska in a non-stop Obamacare spiral

Open enrollment in the federal health insurance marketplace started Sunday and runs through Jan. 31.

Most Alaskans enrolling in plans on the individual market won’t pay the high premiums. That’s because those who make between one and four times the federal poverty level can get subsidies, which have kept pace with premium increases.

But others, like Hess, who earn too much for a subsidy have seen their premiums go up year after year without sign of reprieve.

Insurers blame the increases on factors that include high medical costs in Alaska paired with a relatively small market and a small group of people in that market with very high medical bills. Only two insurance companies -- Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield and Moda Health -- offer insurance on the online marketplace in Alaska.

Alaska Dispatch News: Melanie Coon, a Premera spokeswoman, said insurers saw many members of the state's high-risk pool enroll in insurance through the online marketplace once it opened. There, they could get a subsidy toward their premiums. Premiums had been high outside the marketplace, she said.

Obama’s health care law barred insurers from turning people away because of pre-existing conditions.

Between the start of January and the end of September of this year, Coon said, 37 Premera members enrolled in individual health insurance plans generated $17.5 million in medical bills. In total, Premera had about 7,400 members during that time in the individual market with $68.3 million in claims.

“You have less than 1 percent of the pool generating a quarter of medical claims,” Coon said. She described the marketplace in Alaska as “unsustainable.” Coon said Premera lost millions of dollars last year in Alaska.

In August, the state Division of Insurance approved average rate increases for next year of nearly 40 percent for Premera and Moda. That came on top of double-digit increases this year.

“Since the beginning of the metallic plans in 2014, rates have increased by 91 percent,” Coon said. “That’s why we can’t keep going on at this point.”

On average in the United States, premiums for the second-lowest Silver plan (also called the benchmark plan) will increase by 7.5 percent in 2016 compared to this year. In Alaska, that plan will go up by 31.5 percent, Kaiser reported.

Hess said that while she supports Obama’s health care law and getting more people insured, she could only hang on to her health insurance plan for so long.

“You can only take one for the team to a certain extent and then you have to look at your own personal situation and say, ‘This is crazy. I can’t do this,’” she said.

If you are sick, go to California and we will Obamacare you.   California has a special deal, Texans have agreed to cover all the bills.