With the new Affordable Care Act, health insurance companies are having financial troubles because too numerous new policy holders need medical care. (Check to see whether they are in network in either plan in November.) What prescriptions or procedures do you expect in the next year, and how are those covered in each plan?
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Aetna spokesman TJ Crawford said the letter was a response to the department’s written request for information. The Keystone State is one of 11 states in which Aetna will no longer operate. But in rate increase filings, Aetna reported about 84,000 customers in the individual marketplace in Texas.
Urban markets or places with higher populations should still have plenty of health insurance choices on their exchanges for 2017, said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor with the Georgetown Health Policy Institute. The average rate increase is almost 18 percent, according to Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation. Haislmaier, who tracks the numbers daily, says the picture will become more clear when insurance arrangements are solidified around the end of October. Pinal County in Arizona is, as of now, the only county in the country expected to have no insurers offer plans next year.
Democrats have pointed to Aetna’s change of heart about the law from April as suspicious, though.
Q: What’s the best way to navigate the ACA health care exchanges, and what can consumers expect for 2017 ACA open enrollment season?
Another state-Alaska-is facing the same dilemma, with Premera being the only remaining carrier in its health exchange. It made a decision to exit the exchanges after the Justice Department sued to block a planned merger with Humana,HUM -0.31 % The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The exchanges have helped millions of people gain health coverage, most with help from income-based tax credits. “It’s no surprise that companies are adapting at different rates to a market where they compete for business on cost and quality rather than by denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions”.
The nation’s third-largest insurer has not released specifics on how many clients in Texas use the exchange. Next year, the company will offer coverage in only four states. It will sell coverage on exchanges in 242 counties next year, down from 778.
Other large insurers like Humana and UnitedHealth have said they are cutting participation in the exchanges.
So now, because Bertolini didn’t get his merger, Obamacare and ordinary Americans who need health insurance will suffer the consequences.
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But overall, she said, “I don’t think the marketplaces are crashing and burning by any means”. It’s crucial that both the government and insurers take steps to stabilize the program, but Obamacare is not doomed, they say. Now, it will leave 11 of the 15 states that it has previously sold in – forcing almost a million people to find new plans, and reducing options for Obamacare shoppers in 2017.
