In fact, according to the analysis, insurers experienced the strongest performance in the individual market since the ACA took effect. Two different financial indicators demonstrate this, it adds: Not only did the average share of health premiums paid out in claims (or loss ratio) fall to 70 percent in 2018, down from 82 percent in 2017, 96 percent in 2016 and 103 percent in 2015, but average premiums collected in excess of claims (or gross margins) hit $167 per enrollee per month, up from $79 in 2017, $14 in 2016 and -$9 in 2015.

In fact, 2018 figures indicate that individual market insurers are hitting or exceeding profitability levels last seen prior to 2014, when ACA rules—including the obligation to cover people with preexisting conditions—took effect.

Data from 2018 indicate that because of uncertainty surrounding the fate of the ACA, as well as policy changes such as the termination of the cost sharing subsidy, insurers' premium increases overcompensated and more than covered claims, administrative costs and profit.

As a result, despite the repeal of the individual mandate penalty and the Trump administration's push to expand loosely regulated insurance options still pushing 2019 premiums toward the high end, those increases were mitigated by the prior year's overcorrection—leading to a slight decrease in premiums in 2019.