According to business groups, more small businesses adopting Obamacare’s insurance changes in 2016 could result in higher premiums. Washington Examiner,
Obamacare required small-group healthcare markets to cover essential benefits similar to those in the individual market. Those include capping enrollees’ out-of-pocket costs and not excluding people due to pre-existing conditions.
Insurers also have to set rates using a single risk pool that includes all enrollees across their small group plans in the state…
About 64 percent of members in groups with 51-100 employees would get a premium increase in 2016 as a result of the expansion, with these groups seeing an 18 percent increase on average, according to an analysis supported by the BlueCross BlueShield Foundation, a charity arm of insurance giant Anthem.
