Big rate hikes for health insurance will slam Washingtonians

Open enrollment for health insurance in 2018 starts on Nov. 1 and thousands of people in Washington state will see big increases in their premiums.

The state’s insurance commissioner will officially release rates next week, and his office is warning that hundreds of thousands of people who do not get their insurance through an employer, will see a rate hike in the double digits.

Some 330,000 Washingtonians don’t get health insurance through an employer.

“I’m one of the folks who has to go out and get insurance on my own,” said Edward Weatherly, who is currently working a temp job. His monthly premiums?

“It costs me about $430 a month,” Weatherly said.

And the state’s insurance commissioner, Mike Kreidler, says rates for 2018 will go up – by a lot.

“We’re looking at rate increases that are going to be in the 20s (percentage). We haven’t seen that, except going back before the Affordable Care Act,” Kreidler said.

The ones hardest hit will be the middle class – people who don’t qualify for a subsidy.

“It’s that person who doesn’t receive any help that I’m worried about. That’s going (to) say, ‘I’m going to hit the wall and I can’t afford this any longer,’” Kriedler said.

Weatherly is one of those individuals. He says it’s already difficult to make ends meet.

“In addition to the rent, it’s pretty tough every month,” Weatherly said. “And there have been a couple of times I’ve thought about letting the insurance go.”

It gets worse – the insurance commissioner says people who are not subsidized with the most popular “Silver Plan” could see even more dramatic rate hikes.

“On top of the mid-20 percent rate increase, they could see a 9 to 27 percent (increase) on top of that,” Kreidler said.

He says one reason for the steep increases is the uncertainty coming out of Washington, D.C.

“I don’t care if they call it ‘Trumpcare’ whatever it is. But you’ve got to do something to make sure you’re taking care of the people. Access to affordable quality health insurance,” he said.

Weatherly says he’s hoping for a change.

“I’m hoping we just get to a point where it becomes a right. So many things that we argue about, at both the national and the state level, that to me in the overall scheme of things don’t mean anything. It’s not life and death. Whereas health insurance, to me, is life and death,” Weatherly said.

The state insurance commissioner plans to release official rate hikes Thursday. Where you live could also impact how much your rates will go up, and the rates will be broken down by region, insurer and plan.