Premiums for benchmark silver plans on the federal individual market exchanges will drop [1.5%] in 2019, marking the first decrease since the Affordable Care Act was implemented, CMS Administrator Seema Verma announced on Thursday.

According to this article, "Tennessee will see the sharpest premium decline, as average monthly premiums for silver plans fell more than 26% from more than $600 last year to $449. "

In August, Tennessee Dept. of Commerce and Insurance announced rate changes for Obamacare providers. BC BS TN proposed an average decrease of 14.8%, whereas Cigna proposed an average premium decrease of 12.9%.

Obamacare open enrollment this year for 2019 is from November 1 to December 15.

Note, The Trump administration plans to shut down the federal health insurance exchange for 12 hours during all but one Sunday in the upcoming open enrollment season. The shutdown will occur from 12 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET on every Sunday except Dec. 10.