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Politics & Government

Insurance Premiums After ACA Kicks In Remain a Mystery

Providers muddy the waters with widely divergent quotes published in congressional report.

Whether health insurance rates under the Affordable Care Act will rise or fall is still a big unknown, as a recent congressional report made clear.

Two large New Jersey insurers submitted widely divergent estimates for the future cost of insurance premiums -- one saying they could rise as much as 19 percent, another saying they could fall by up to 25 percent. In addition, one insurer said premiums for small businesses would rise by 16 percent.

The costs were provided to Congress with the proviso that the estimates would remain anonymous.

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The situation won’t become clear until insurers propose details of their plans to state and federal regulators, which is expected to occur before the insurance exchange is up and running. The exchange is expected to launch on October 1, with residents eligible to purchase insurance starting January 1, 2014.

The estimates were raised during a wide-ranging healthcare summit hosted by the Common Sense Institute of New Jersey, a free-market-oriented think tank. The event included discussions of the insurance exchange and Medicaid, two key features of the ACA.

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