Survey: The Majority of Last Year’s Obamacare Customers Won’t Return

A majority of last year’s Obamacare customers aren’t planning to purchase their coverage again in 2015, according to a Bankrate survey.

Fifty-one percent of respondents in a survey of last year’s Obamacare exchange customers don’t plan to purchase an exchange plan this year, according to a Bankrate Health Insurance Pulse survey out Monday. Those who earn less and receive higher premium subsidies were more likely to renew their plans. Fifty-three percent of those who earn less than $30,000 a year said they’d return to the exchanges, while just 35 percent of those making $75,000 or more expect to return.

Higher premiums are keeping most customers away. Forty-three percent said higher insurance rates are their biggest concern about buying Obamacare coverage again; just one in five said they’re most afraid of a repeat of last year’s website glitches and error messages.

In many states, the insurance companies that earned the most customers in year one of Obamacare betted on lower rates in 2014 to attract their customer base and are now hiking premiums. There are, however, more insurers on the exchanges this year, as new insurers are looking to pull off customers with new prices.

Keeping the same plan from last year is more likely than not going to result in large premium increases, according to a July study from health consulting firm Avalere Health. The key difference between Obamacare exchanges from traditional private markets may be that exchange customers are better served by changing their insurance plan every year.

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