Idaho Health Insurance Rates Are About to Spike

If you feel like you're getting squeezed now, it might hurt even next year.  Health insurance premiums for you and your family could increase by another 38 percent in 2018 if the big Idaho insurers get their way.

On Monday, Idaho's Department of Insurance released the rates that the state's biggest insurers are going for, and those rates are up between 38 and 48 percent, heading into 2018.

KTVB says SelectHealth of Idaho is requesting the highest rate increase at 48 percent for its Gold package.  But all of the major insurers are increasing premiums by double digits over uncertainty about what the federal government will do. The Idaho Statesman says the lowest requested increase is from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Idaho, at around 12 percent higher than 2017, for its bronze plan.

Nothing is final yet, so there's hope from a consumer standpoint that the increases won't be as steep as the initial proposals.  The insurance companies will spend the next few months negotiating the rates, and the final numbers will come out later this year just before open enrollment.  And then, let the plan swapping and shopping begin.