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Source: screen grab on Nov. 18, 2014.

The most popular health insurance plans available to Pennsylvania residents on the Obamacare health insurance exchange for will cost 4 percent to 9 percent more than in 2014, according to an analysis by Avalere Health, a private health care consulting firm.

Nationally, the average prices varied widely, rising by as much as 28 percent, and falling by as much as 19 percent, Avalere found.



In Pennsylvania, the average monthly premium for the lowest priced bronze plan for a 50-year-old non-smoker is $252, up eight percent from last year. The average monthly premium for the lowest priced silver plan for a 50-year-old non-smoker is $295, up nine percent.

Avalere also looked at premiums for the second lowest silver plans. These plans are the benchmark used to calculate subsidies, and with people choosing a higher-priced plan having to pay the difference. (Plans are categorized as bronze, silver, gold and platinum, with bronze plans being the cheapest and platinum plans the most expensive.)



In Pennsylvania, the average monthly premium for a silver benchmark plan available to a 50-year-old non-smoker who lives in Pennsylvania is $305, up four percent from last year.



Those figures don't take into a account the government subsidies available to people who don't have insurance through work and earn up to $46,680 for a single person and $95,400 for a family of four.



Nationally, the average subsidy was $264 a month. In Pennsylvania, 81 percent of the approximately 318,000 people who bought coverage on the exchange received a subsidy in 2014.



The premium prices cited by Avalere are slightly higher than the average increase for employer sponsored coverage — which will rise by four percent, according to early results of an analysis by Mercer.

Avalere noted that two-thirds of the people who bought a plan on the exchange in 2014 chose a silver plan, with 43 percent of those picking the cheapest option, and only 22 percent choosing the benchmark plan.



People who enrolled in a plan last year will automatically be enrolled if they don't chose a different plan. Elizabeth Carpenter of Avalere Health, while noting the convenience of automatic enrollment, urged people to shop around, stating they well could find a better deal.