HEALTHCARE OPEN ENROLLMENT BEGINS WITH RISING PREMIUMS
Open enrollment for Obamacare began Tuesday and Tennesseans are feeling the pain of rising healthcare premiums as is most of the country. Those premiums, under the Affordable Care Act, have increased by at least 25 percent. In Tennessee, the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services says those increase have averaged 60 percent. For those Tennesseans that still have Blue Cross Blue Shield, premiums have doubled. Officials for BCBS says that the company had to increase prices due to losing $500 million. Earlier this year, BCBS stopped offering healthcare to major metropolitan areas in Tennessee including Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis.