Michigan: APPROVED 2019 ACA rate hikes: Just 1.7%, but *would* have DROPPED around 3.3% w/out #ACASabotage

This is about as minor a rate filing update as I've had, but I'm posting it separately in the interest of completeness.

Insurance carriers in my home state of Michigan originally submitted their requested 2019 ACA individual market rate filings back in June. At the time, the average premium increase being asked for was pretty nominal, around 1.7%, with a smaller-than-average #ACASabotage factor of around 5% due to the ACA's Individual Mandate being repealed and #ShortAssPlans being expanded by the Trump Administration.

Today, just two days before the 2019 Open Enrollment Period actually begins, the Michigan Dept. of Financial Services finally posted the approved 2019 rate filings...and practically nothing ended up changing.

The only change I could find was for Molina Healthcare, which saw their average approved rate increase go up slightly, from 1.6% to 2.2%. Such a nominal tweak didn't impact the overall premiums, however. Interestingly, a strict weighted averaging of the numbers below would give you +1.27%, not 1.7%, but the MI DFS insists that it's 1.7%, and the gap is small enough that I'm not going to worry about it.

In any event, that 5% sabotage factor means that unsubsidized Michigan enrollees--which may end up including my wife and I, depending on our income--will still have to pay around $300 more apiece next year than they'd otherwise have to. That's $900 extra for a family of three. If anyone wants to help my family cover that, feel free to do so here...