South Carolina's ACA customers will benefit from lower premiums, more choices in 2020

COLUMBIA, SC -- When open enrollment begins Friday, South Carolinians shopping for health insurance in the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace will see lower rates and more insurance providers to choose from.

Health insurance rates for those Palmetto State customers are dropping for the first time since the 2014 inception of the marketplace, according to the S.C. Department of Insurance.

And the addition of two more insurers — Molina Healthcare and Bright Health Company — means customers in 32 S.C. counties will have their choice of two insurance providers, while customers in three counties can pick from three.

“The consumers usually do benefit from competition,” said former state Sen. Joel Lourie, a Columbia Democrat who unsuccessfully pushed for Medicaid expansion and now runs a life and health insurance company. “It does give consumers the opportunity to shop a little bit.”

Read more: https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article236856648.html