Inflation, health spending drive ACA premiums higher for 2023

Inflation and higher health spending helped drive monthly premiums for Affordable Care Act coverage up an average of 3.4% between 2022 and 2023, reversing a trend of recent declines, according to a new report from the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Axios reports. The average silver plan benchmark premium increased from $438 to $453 in the last year for a 40-year-old nonsmoker. Markets with a single insurer had premiums that were $128 more than in markets with five or more insurers.