The marketplace is booming for Georgians who want individual health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
It may be the most contentious time in history for the ACA marketplace exchange in Georgia, which is open for window shopping now and starts open enrollment on Sunday. Gov. Brian Kemp is prepared to block Georgians’ access to the healthcare.gov website in coming years and reroute consumers to private agents, and the whole system is on the chopping block at the U.S. Supreme Court Nov. 10.
But according to documents filed with the state Office of Insurance, competition is up and prices are stable for plans that begin Jan. 1, 2021.
For the first time in years, huge swaths of rural Georgia will add second, third, and even fourth insurers, guaranteeing competition and choices. A handful of metro Atlanta counties will have five companies to choose from.
And for the second year in a row, prices will rise less on average than inflation in health care, increasing 3.4%. One company’s average prices, Kaiser’s, will fall 19%. The biggest price hike will be Ambetter’s 9.8% increase, following a price decrease the previous year.
The stability follows years of turmoil, soaring prices and disappearing choices.
Source: AJC