Health insurer Anthem, part of the Blue Cross Blue Shield brand, announced Wednesday that in 2018 it would no longer be participating in the Obamacare exchanges in Indiana and Wisconsin.
The company will still sell plans off the exchanges in one county in Wisconsin and five counties in Indiana, but people who purchase them cannot use tax subsidies to lower their costs.
Anthem said in a statement it made its decision because “the individual market remains volatile.”
It blamed uncertainty ahead over whether it would receive insurance payments from the federal government, as well as whether the government would enforce the Obamacare law that requires people to have insurance or pay a penalty. The future of the law remains in flux as Republicans in the Senate debate a bill that would repeal and replace portions of Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, with a draft of the legislation expected Thursday.
Anthem, in citing its decision to leave the exchanges in Indiana and Wisconsin, noted they were struggling. Much of this is because not enough young, healthy people have enrolled in the plans to balance out the costs of sicker, more expensive enrollees.
“A stable insurance market is dependent on products that create value for consumers through the broad spreading of risk and a known set of conditions upon which rates can be developed,” the company said in a statement. “Today, planning and pricing for ACA-compliant health plans has become increasingly difficult due to a shrinking and deteriorating individual market, as well as continual changes and uncertainty in federal operations, rules and guidance, including cost sharing reduction subsidies and the restoration of taxes on fully insured coverage.”
Customers who buy plans on the exchange include people who do not have insurance through an employer or through the government. Anthem’s announcement came the same day as insurers are facing a deadline in many states to file rate increases for premiums for next year.
Because counties in Indiana and Wisconsin currently have at least two health insurers to buy coverage from, no counties will be left with zero subsidized options. Anthem announced earlier this month that it would be exiting the exchange in Ohio.
“Anthem’s exit from IN and WI exchanges won’t leave any bare counties, assuming other carriers stay in. Meanwhile, Centene is expanding in IN,” tweeted Cynthia Cox, associate director for the program for the study of health reform and private insurance at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Speaker Paul Ryan ripped the Affordable Care Act after Anthem’s decision was announced.
“Because of Obamacare, many Wisconsinites will now have to scramble to find new plans and new doctors. This law has failed our state, where average individual market premiums have skyrocketed by 93 percent since 2013,” Ryan said in a statement.
“Obamacare is clearly collapsing, and we have to step in before more families get hurt. We are on a rescue mission to replace this collapsing law with a better system so that people have lower costs, more choices, and real peace of mind. We need to get this done.”
Anthem’s exit from IN and WI exchanges won’t leave any bare counties, assuming other carries stay in. Meanwhile, Centene is expanding in IN.
— Cynthia Cox (@cynthiaccox) June 21, 2017
