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Big Rise In Health Care Premiums In Time For Midterm Races

Fox News Channel's Special Report

Just in time for the November elections. News about your health insurance premiums that could affect your vote, and the votes of American everywhere. Here is chief national correspondent Jim Angle.

JIM ANGLE, FOX NEWS NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The administration still has a rough road ahead with Obamacare, as insurance companies re-price their premiums for 2015, which will be known well in advance of the November elections.

JOSEPH ANTOS, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: Everybody will know what the premiums are going to be, well before the election. And the premiums are going to be much higher than I think the administration is counting on.

ANGLE: Though some plans are seeking increases of less than 10 percent, many others are rising much more.

MERRILL MATTHEWS, INSTITUTE FOR POLICY INNOVATION: Depending upon who you look at, some are looking at roughly 24, 25 percent increases, some of the estimates, others seem to be a little less. Of course, it's going to vary by state.

ANTOS: The premiums they're facing are probably 15 to 20 percent higher than they were this year. So, it's going to be a difficult situation. And I think the administration is not going to win on this.

DAN MENDELSON, AVALERE HEALTH: There are many plans that have to raise their premiums in excess of 25 percent. Those are typically cases where the plan mispriced the product to begin with.

ANGLE: The administration argues Obamacare has actually held the cost of premiums in check, even pushing them down. Average refunds of $80 per family this year. Some plans are indeed proposing smaller increases, but no matter how small, the president promised massive savings, saying every family would save $2,500 a year.

MATTHEWS: In fact, they were about $3,000 higher at the end of his first term rather than $2,500 a year lower. So he missed it by a spread of about $5,500. And they're continuing to go up.

ANGLE: But analysts emphasize premium costs are only part of the total cost of health insurance. Recent reports show many people confused and unhappy, they must pay as much as $5,000 out of pocket before a single dollar of coverage.

MENDELSON: They don't often look at what the other costs are. And they are not only the cost of the deductible, there are also the costs of out-of-network service use.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There has to be a balance there, and we're seeing that balance come out in higher deductibles, higher premiums and, of course, less choice.

ANGLE: Which is why many states have proposals to broaden their networks which will make health care easier, but also force premiums to increase even more