The roughly 1.4 million Californians who buy health insurance through the state Covered California exchange will see their premiums increase by an average of 12.5% next year.
Covered California, created under the Affordable Care Act and in its fourth year of operation, announced the proposed 2018 prices on Tuesday. Bay Area counties will see smaller increases than the 12.5% statewide rise. Rate increases will average 6.6% in San Francisco, 4.3% in San Mateo County, 8.2% in Contra Costa County, 10.4% in Santa Clara County and 8.3% in Alameda County. Marin, Solano, Sonoma and Napa counties are all part of the same pricing region, which will see an average increase of 7.4% overall.
Counties in the northern and central state would see far greater average increases of 33.2% and 24%, respectively. Experts said Bay Area rate increases are smaller in part because Kaiser, which dominates the region, generally had lower rate increases than other insurers.
