Obamacare Premiums to Drop Slightly in 16 Cities

[enlightenment]

2. Slightly disingenuous reporting,

though that is because of the way the KFF parsed it.

In preliminary but encouraging news for consumers and taxpayers, insurance filings show that average premiums will decline slightly next year in 16 major cities for a benchmark Obamacare plan.

That isn't true, really.
Seven states show reductions ranging from Denver's -15.6% to NYC's -0.7%
Nine states show increases ranging from Los Angeles' 0.8% to Nashville's 8.7%

Averaging the numbers gives a slight decrease of -0.8%, but the reality is that in nine of the 16 cities, premiums are going up, not down. In order to get that -0.8% average, they are comparing the average of the "before tax credit" rate for this year (the numbers above). Then they compare the "after tax credit" rate between 2014 and 2015, which works out to a 0.1% increase.

Much clearer picture in the KFF report.
http://files.kff.org/attachment/analysis-of-2015-premium-changes-in-the-affordable-care-acts-health-insurance-marketplaces-issue-brief