PA Officials Brace For Changes To Insurance Marketplace
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Pennsylvania is joining 18 other states in suing to stop Donald Trump's executive order that would end cost sharing for health insurance.
But the state insurance department is getting prepared to try to minimize the impact on the one million Pennsylvanians who get insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
Spokeswoman Ali Fogarty says the Insurance Department is expected to be announcing rate increases of about eight percent for marketplace plans on Monday, but eliminating cost-sharing means some will be going up 20 to 30 percent.
"We're working to make sure these rate increases are isolated on to certain plans, so other plans in the Marketplace and off-exchange will not be impacted by these rate increases," Fogarty said.
Fogarty says consumers will still be able to get tax credit subsidies on the higher priced plans that should cover the increases.
Blue Cross-- the only provider on the marketplace in the Philadelphia area-- says it's still evaluating what the move will mean for individual plans in the future but assured customers their current coverage remains unchanged.
Attorney General Josh Shapiro is trying to preserve cost sharing payments through the lawsuit, which charges the president is acting capriciously in violation of legal obligations.
