| 1 | SACRAMENTO -- For the second consecutive year, most consumers who bought health care plans through Covered California, the state's health insurance exchange, will see modest rate hikes in 2016, while some will see a drop in premiums, exchange officials announced Monday. |
| 2 | But Bay Area residents for the most part will see higher average premiums because there is less competition among hospitals and doctors' groups in the region, enabling those healthcare providers to negotiate higher rates with the exchange's health insurance plans. |
| 3 | The average California rate hike of the plans created by the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, will be 4 percent, which is lower than last year's average increase of 4.2 percent. |
| 4 | That means the majority of Covered California consumers will either see a decrease in their health insurance premiums, or an increase of less than 5 percent if they choose to keep their current plan. |
| 5 | But the state average premium increase does not reflect regional averages. |
| 6 | While Covered California enrollees in the city and county of San Francisco will only see 3.4 percent next year, in Contra Costa County, the average increase will be 5.4 percent; for Alameda County, it's 6.3 percent; San Mateo County is 6.6 percent, as are Marin, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties. |
| 7 | Santa Clara County will see 7 percent average increase, while enrollees in Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey counties will be facing whopping 12.8 percent average premium hike. |
| 8 | However, exchange officials said consumers can reduce their premiums by an average of 4.5 percent -- and more than 10 percent in some regions -- if they shop around and change to a lower-cost plan within the same metal tier. |
| 9 | Lee also noted that because Covered California requires health insurance carriers to offer the same products at the same prices both inside and outside the state healthcare exchange marketplace, all individuals buying health insurance should see similar rates. |
| 10 | Lee also announced that two new health insurance carriers will be added to the current exchange, for a total of 12 plans in 2016: UnitedHealthcare Benefits Plan of California will offer coverage in Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties, the Central Coast counties, Northern California, the Central Valley and a few Eastern California counties. |
| 11 | Oscar Health Plan of California will offer plans to part of Los Angeles County and Orange County. |