Health insurance premium rates have risen significantly because of the Affordable Care Act, especially in states that ceded all enforcement of ACA exchanges to the federal government - a trend that could alter brokers selling strategies.
Across all states, average per-person premiums increased over 24% from before the fourth quarter of 2013 to the first half of 2014 beyond what they would have had they simply followed state-level seasonally-adjusted trends, according to a study by Amanda Kowalski, a Brookings nonresident fellow and Yale University faculty member. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey also found the average annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage reached $16,834 this year, up 3% from last year, continuing a recent trend of modest increases.
