Starting tomorrow, Montanans will be able to access the federal health care exchange website and see if insurance plans cost more or less than last year, according to Jennifer McKee with the Montana Office of Securities and Insurance, the average Montanan will see costs rise.

"Rates are going up for some people and they're going down for some people," McKee said. "We wanted to get a sense of what's happening on average for most Montanans. So back in the summer, we hired an outside actuary to analyze the rates in individual and small business insurance markets in Montana. What they came up with was the average is going up 1.35 percent."

McKee says the increase is actually not bad compared to other states.

"By and large, we were pleasantly surprised to see that pretty low increase," McKee said. "We know that compared to the rest of the country, on average, insurance rates are going up around 8.5 percent. This next year, so putting Montana into perspective with the rest of the country, we were feeling pretty good with what Montanans can be facing."

Still, McKee says Montanans won't be seeing the $2500 in savings touted by the president before the Affordable Care Act passed.

"It's very complex because you have to consider, I mean I don't expect it to go down by $2,500 any time soon, but you also have to consider what prices might have done in the absence of Obamacare versus what they are actually doing," McKee said.

To see which plans had increases or decreases in their rates, go to montanahealthanswers.com to compare. The site is put together by the Montana Office of Securities and Insurance, it is so Montana, in fact, that there is an elk on the front page.

 

More From KMMS-KPRK 1450 AM