Kaiser Survey Probes Health Insurance Brokers’ Views on Insurance Trends, ACA

A new nationally representative survey of 500 health insurance agents and brokers working in the individual and small group markets by the Kaiser Family Foundation explores their outlook on market trends and views on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The survey finds that many agents are seeing steep increases in premiums and deductibles for individuals and small businesses purchasing health insurance. When asked to estimate what they expect to be the typical premium increase in 2012 based on what they have heard from insurers, four in ten agents (39 percent) say they expect premiums to increase between 11% and 20% and another third (33 percent) expect them to increase between 6% and 10%. Deductibles are also increasing: about half of agents (51 percent) report that currently, the most common deductible amount for single coverage plans is $2,000 or more, compared to one in five who say deductibles were in this range two years ago.