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Utah Health Premiums to Increase 5.7 Percent

Another open enrollment period to sign up for health insurance is coming up in November, and rates are going to change. State assistance insurance commissioner Tanji (TAN-jee) Northrup says premium rates increase every year along with healthcare costs. She says preliminary estimates show that premium rates for individuals will go up by about 5.7 percent on average. That’s compared to an estimated national increase of 7 percent.

“As usual, Utah trends on increases in health insurance premium rates are lower than national average. They’re also lower than probably what we have seen in past years,” Northrup says.

She says the benchmark silver level plan that the federal government uses to calculate premium subsidies will change in 2015, so consumers could see some savings if they switch plans. There will also be more plans on offer than there were last year.

“I would say my most important message is to let consumers know they need to go out onto the exchanges and shop plans during open enrollment, that the auto-renew option isn’t necessarily in their best interest,” Northrup says.

Open enrollment begins November 15th, and the new rates take effect on January 1st, 2015.

Andrea Smardon is new at KUER, but she has worked in public broadcasting for more than a decade. Most recently, she worked as a reporter and news announcer for WGBH radio. While in Boston, she produced stories for Morning Edition, Marketplace Money, and The World. Her print work was published in The Boston Globe and Boston.com. Prior to that, she worked at Seattleââ
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