More carriers flock to PPACA exchanges

Experts pointed to a lack of competition in PPACA's first year as the reason for increasing premiums under the law. Economists Leemore Dafny, Jonathan Gruber and Christopher Ody, for example, said this summer that if all carriers who sold individual insurance policies in 2011 had participated in all ratings areas in that state's exchange, average premiums for silver plans would have been 11.1 percent less. Increased competition also would have saved taxpayers $1.7 billion in federal subsidies, they said.

But with more carriers joining the exchanges in year two, premiums may be in check for 2015. Plus, consumers will get the competition and choice they were promised by the administration, industry insiders say.

HHS said their report "demonstrates that the marketplace is working to increase competition and lower costs for consumers."

Specifically, the agency said, an increase of one carrier in a rating area is associated with a 4 percent decline in the second-lowest cost silver plan premium, on average. In 2014, consumers in regions with larger numbers of issuers were able to access a wider range of choices.

Despite the news, challenges still remain for the exchanges as enrollment approaches.

Last week, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report that privacy and security weaknesses still exist on HealthCare.gov despite some strides made by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services within the last year. The report followed a recent report that the federal exchange site was hacked back in July, in which an unknown hacker infiltrated the site.

"While CMS has taken steps to protect the security and privacy of data processed and maintained by the complex set of systems and interconnections that support HealthCare.gov, weaknesses remain both in the processes used for managing information security and privacy as well as the technical implementation of IT security controls," the GAO said.

Also concerning is continued confusion and lack of awareness over the law, especially for those the law is most meant to help.

A new report from the nonprofit Transamerica Center for Health Studies found that 46 percent of those who remain uninsured say they still haven't heard of the individual mandate, the law's provision requiring them to get health insurance. And 43 percent have not heard of the exchanges where they may be eligible to purchase health insurance.

Last week, the Obama administration announced that PPACA had 7.3 million paying enrollees as of mid-August, down from the 8 million figure they announced at the end of enrollment in April.