Alaska’s key takeaways from new HHS report

In anticipation of open enrollment beginning Wednesday, this morning the Department of Health & Human Services released a research brief outlining the available health plan options and costs for the states using HealthCare.gov.

Here are a couple of key takeaways for Alaska:

• Alaska is one of eight states that will only have one insurance issuer. The other states are Delaware, Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wyoming.
• Alaska, Arizona, Iowa, and Mississippi enrollees will have the fewest qualified health plan options (with an average of 5 health plans).
• This year, Alaska will have the highest percentage decrease in the average premium for the benchmark plan ($596), which is a decrease of 22 percent from plan year 2017 ($760). According to the report, “The decrease is likely associated with the Alaska Reinsurance Program approved earlier this year through a 1332 state innovation waiver and implemented in 2018.”

For more detailed information, view the entire report here.

To see a preview of plans and prices, click here.