Changes in benchmark premiums vary widely from market to market, ranging from a decrease of 13% in Providence, RI, to an increase of 18% in Portland, OR, analysts say.
Benchmark silver plan premiums will increase an average 10% in 2017 across 14 major metropolitan areas, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation analysis.
Savvy price shopping by consumers could blunt much of the impact, however.
The analysis is based on proposed rate filings in 13 states plus the District of Columbia where complete information is currently available.
The focus was on premiums for the second lowest-cost silver plan, the basis for enrollees' tax credits. About two-thirds of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act marketplace enrollees choose silver plans.
The projected 10% average increase, weighted by 2016 state marketplace enrollment, is higher than in the previous years.
The report notes, however, that most health insurance marketplace customers who receive premium subsidies under the ACA can lower their costs by moving to one of their market's lowest-cost plans.
Changes in benchmark premiums vary widely from market to market, ranging from a decrease of 13% in Providence, RI, to an increase of 18% in Portland, OR.
As in past years, the current report finds insurers are again reordering themselves in terms of cost. In nine of the 14 major cities, at least one insurer with one of the two lowest-cost silver plans in 2016 isn't among the two lowest-cost silver plans in 2017.
Consumers receiving tax credits must pay attention to those shifts to avoid inadvertently paying a larger share of their income on premiums.
Increases of 10% or more are significant, but they do not necessarily have to hit a consumer directly.
The Kaiser report offers this example of how the rate changes and other factors can affect an individual and sometimes result in no negative effect: In 2016, a 40-year-old single enrollee making $30,000 per year would have paid about $208 per month in most areas of the country, and a similar person would pay approximately the same in 2017 even with premium caps increasing.
The poverty guidelines are also changing such that a single person making $30,000 would be at a slightly lower percent of poverty than he or she would be this year, the report explains.
The two changes cancel each other out, leaving monthly payments for the benchmark plan very similar from year-to-year.
The report stresses, however, that such stability in premium payments may require enrollees to switch plans. Staying with the same plan from one year to the next is more likely to result in paying higher premiums without receiving additional benefits, but consumers are likely to shop for a lower-cost plan.
The report cites a research brief from the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) which found that about two-thirds of Healthcare.gov enrollees actively shopped in 2016, including 43% of renewing enrollees and all new shoppers.
The number of insurers participating in 2017 ACA marketplaces in half of the states studied, plus the District of Columbia, will hold steady or increase relative to the beginning of 2016, the analysis finds.
The other states will see a net decrease, often as a result of the withdrawal of UnitedHealth.
Complete 2017 rate information isn't yet available for all states, and plans' final rates may differ from the proposals as a result of each state's rate review process. Kaiser intends to update the analysis as more rate information becomes available.