Plan to shop for insurance on Mississippi’s new health insurance exchange come Oct. 1.
Then brace for sticker shock.
Regardless of age, shoppers on the state’s “Federally Facilitated Marketplace” will find health insurance premiums at least 100 percent above rates to which they have become accustomed, Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney said.
“The base rate is going to be a little more than $300, depending on where you live,” he said, and insisted the rates he approved for insurance marketplace carriers Humana Health Insurance Co. and Magnolia Health Plan were fair and in line with the higher rates that will accompany the new coverage mandates under the Affordable Care Act.
“If I thought the rates were excessive, I would not have approved them,” Chaney said. “In today’s market (post implementation of the market exchange) they are pretty competitive.”
The approvals, which must still get a nod from the Department of Health and Human Services, set a monthly premium base rate of $312 for Magnolia Health Plan and $302 for Humana.
Mississippi PEP 
There he goes again, working for the Federal Government. Can we pull his state salary and recall him?