Q: There have been several articles about the cost of Obamacare premiums going up. I have also read that nearly 75 percent of people pay less than $100 a month in premiums. Is this true?
—Margaret Thomson, Marietta
A: About 77 percent of people enrolled in the Health Insurance Marketplace can find a plan for less than $100 a month in premiums, after 2017 tax credits, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“Thanks to financial assistance, most marketplace consumers this year will find plan options with premiums between $50 and $100 per month,” HHS secretary Sylvia M. Burwell said in a release last month.
In the 38 states, including Georgia, using the federal exchange on Healthcare.gov, the cost of premiums for midlevel plans will rise 25 percent on average in 2017.
The premiums rose 7.2 percent last year, CNN.com reported.
Prices vary across states.
Arizona’s benchmark average premium will rise 116 percent while Indiana’s will fall 3 percent, CNN.com reported.
The open enrollment period started Nov. 1.
Q: Why have we not been seeing John Roberts covering the news for Fox? What has happened to him?
—Yolanda T. Rossi, Roswell
A: Roberts, Fox News' senior national correspondent, covered the Republican angle of the presidential race, including traveling with the Trump campaign, until the election on Nov. 8.
Roberts didn’t see his wife — CNN’s Kyra Phillips — for six weeks and his 5-year-old twins for a month, he said in an interview with Adweek, published Nov. 7.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column; Will Robinson contributed. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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