4 Reasons Your Obamacare Healthcare Premium Is Probably Going Up by at Least 10% in 2

It's hard to pick out a single culprit, as nearly every state that's reported insurer rate hike requests thus far has an average or weighted increase north of 10%. One standout is Arizona, where the two largest insurers in the state, Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Arizona and Phoenix Health Plans, which insure 113,400 of the state's 152,600 Obamacare members, are requesting respective premium increases of 64.9% and 60%. In Tennessee, BCBS of Tennessee, which enrolled roughly 222,800 of Tennessee's 304,300 Obamacare members in 2016, is requesting a 62% premium hike in 2017. Once more, BCBS of Illinois, which controls 70% of the Illinois Obamacare market, is asking for a 50.2% premium hike.Humana (NYSE:HUM) isn't much better, either, with a 46.3% rate hike request on the table in Illinois.

In virtually every state a big premium hike appears likely.

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In an effort to prevent more insurers from abandoning the Obamacare exchange in Tennessee, the state's insurance regulator is allowing health insurers refile 2017 rate requests by Aug. 12 after Cigna and Humana said their previously requested premium hikes were too low.
Cigna and Humana filed to increase last year's premiums an average of 23 and 29 percent, respectively, on June 10. But in the interim, both insurance companies have told state regulators that the requests would not cover the expected claims, said Kevin Walters, spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance.

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