Key Point: “The Trump administration’s efforts to loosen health insurance rules will increase premiums for Obamacare plans by double-digit percentages in most states next year, according to a new analysis by the Urban Institute.”

Bloomberg: Trump’s Obamacare Changes to Push Up Premiums, Report Projects

By John Tozzi

The Trump administration’s efforts to loosen health insurance rules will increase premiums for Obamacare plans by double-digit percentages in most states next year, according to a new analysis by the Urban Institute.

Monthly payments for a traditional health insurance plan sold through Obamacare will go up by 18 percent, on average, in 43 states where there aren’t limits on less-comprehensive but less-expensive coverage the administration is calling for, according to the Washington-based policy group. The institute has previously studied the impact of making changes to the Affordable Care Act or other reductions in coverage.

Expanding access to short-term health policies, which can place limits on benefits and charge higher rates to sick people, draws healthy people out of the insurance pool. The tax law signed in December eliminated the requirement that all Americans have coverage or pay a fine. Combined, the result is higher premiums for those who continue to buy insurance under the law.

About 2.5 million people would drop out of the market for comprehensive health coverage under the plan the administration announced last week, according to the Urban Institute. The Trump administration projected that the drain from expanded short-term plans would be smaller, shifting only 100,000 to 200,000 people out of Obamacare in 2019.

(MORE)