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| Trumpcare 2.0 is also gold-laden |
Amidst the carnage wrought by the (still reversible) expiration of the enhanced subsidies in the ACA marketplace, one substantial mitigating factor has emerged: silver loading has reached a milestone. While net-of-subsidy premiums for benchmark silver plans will more than double for the average subsidized enrollee, the average lowest-cost gold plan will be priced below the benchmark (second-cheapest) silver plan for the first time.
That average masks a ton of variation: the average lowest-cost gold plan is priced below benchmark in only 20 states. But those states include Texas and now Florida, which together accounted for more than a third of all enrollees nationally (8.7 million). In total, average lowest-cost gold plans have premiums below benchmark in 20 states with 12.7 million enrollees, 52% of all enrollees nationwide. (In another 12 states, lowest-cost gold premiums average less than 105% of benchmark premiums.)
