Insurers Offer Early Sign of ACA Exchange Plans for 2018
April 20 2017 - 4:59AM
Dow Jones News
By Anna Wilde Mathews and Louise Radnofsky
Anthem Inc. made preliminary filings indicating it will offer
plans on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces in Virginia and
Kentucky next year, providing an early signal on the insurer's
exchange business.
Cigna Corp. and Aetna Inc., which like Anthem have said they are
reconsidering their exchange offerings, are among the insurers that
made similar filings in Virginia. But one current Virginia ACA
insurer, UnitedHealth Group Inc., didn't file 2018 forms, and a
spokesman confirmed it would leave the state's marketplace next
year.
The filings represent early moves toward offering plans on those
states' exchanges, but the insurers could reverse course in coming
weeks or months, and their strategy may be different in other
states. The early disclosures also don't include details such as
rates and the regions where they intend to participate.
Insurers are currently struggling to make decisions about their
2018 exchange offerings, amid what they have complained are mixed
signals from the Trump administration and congressional Republicans
about the future of the ACA. In particular, the insurers want
guarantees that they will continue to receive federal payments that
help cover the cost of care for lower-income ACA exchange
enrollees. Without these payments, industry officials have said the
exchanges may see significant rate increases and pullbacks.
President Donald Trump has threatened to stop funding the ACA's
cost-sharing reduction subsidies, which help lower-income ACA
enrollees with expenses such as deductibles, in an effort to prod
Democrats to negotiate over a health bill. A White House spokesman
said earlier this week that the ACA is "already collapsing on its
own" and the president will work with Congress on replacement
legislation.
Virginia and Kentucky have some of the earliest filing deadlines
among state regulators. Virginia has a policy of quickly making the
forms public. The Kentucky Department of Insurance disclosed 2018
filing information in response to a public records request.
Virginia may not be indicative of broader trends. Its
marketplace has eight insurers offering exchange plans in 2017,
according to health-care research nonprofit Kaiser Family
Foundation, and it was one of the few states to retain robust
offerings from national insurers.
UnitedHealth, which this year withdrew from all but a handful of
states' ACA marketplaces, declined to comment on future plans for
its other remaining states. The UnitedHealth spokesman said its
decision about 2018 ACA marketplace plans in Virginia "in no way
impacts our small and large group businesses, or Medicare or
Medicaid programs in the Commonwealth."
Anthem, which is a major exchange insurer in 14 states where it
is a Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee, is being closely watched by
government officials and investors as it makes decisions about
2018. The company has said it is considering pulling back if the
business isn't stabilizing. Anthem's final decisions in Virginia
and Kentucky will be important because it is the only exchange
insurer in 28 Virginia counties and 59 Kentucky counties, according
to the Kaiser data. An Anthem spokeswoman declined to comment.
Aetna, which pulled out of most of its state exchanges this
year, has already announced that it will leave at least one more
state, Iowa, in 2018. Aetna also sells exchange plans in Delaware
and Nebraska. A spokesman said that the company will participate in
the filing process in Virginia, but "no final decisions have been
made due to continued uncertainty and financial risk," and added
that the insurer had "no update at this time on our potential
presence in other states."
Cigna offers exchange plans in seven states. A Cigna spokesman
said final plan decisions typically occur in the third quarter of
the year, and "we will continue to assess our participation based
on the evolving rules, regulations and design of the marketplace
throughout this process."
In Kentucky, CareSource, a nonprofit, also made a preliminary
filing to offer exchange plans for 2018. A CareSource executive
said it intends to file rates in the four states where it offers
exchange plans, but its final decisions depend on what happens with
the cost-sharing payments. Another Kentucky exchange insurer,
Humana Inc., previously announced it is pulling out of all
exchanges next year.
Other insurers including CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield also
filed to offer exchange plans in Virginia. A CareFirst spokesman
said it intends to offer the 2018 plans and keep the same service
area as this year.
Write to Anna Wilde Mathews at anna.mathews@wsj.com and Louise
Radnofsky at louise.radnofsky@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 20, 2017 05:44 ET (09:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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