The top official implementing President Obama’s healthcare law acknowledged Thursday that reforming the health insurance market is hard, without directly referring to the insurers who are proposing large cost hikes or dropping out of the marketplaces altogether.
“I recognize that this transforming market hasn’t been easy,” Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said at a forum convened by her agency. “As with any new market, some participants are adapting faster than others.”
Three years into the Affordable Care Act’s new insurance marketplaces, some insurers are complaining that their new customers are sicker and more expensive, causing them to lose money and raise rates.
UnitedHealthcare announced this spring that it would pull out of most of the online marketplaces, and other major insurers, including Aetna, have warned that their losses may be unsustainable.
Many insurers selling on the exchanges have proposed large, double-digit rate hikes for the upcoming enrollment season starting this fall, putting the administration on the defense. Burwell pointed to other reforms in the healthcare law, like requirements for insurers to cover those with pre-existing conditions and charge women the same rate as men, and stressed that it will take more time for insurers to adjust.
“Taken together, these changes have transformed the individual market for health insurance,” Burwell said. “I know rapid change can be hard.”
Earlier this week, the administration announced a series of steps aimed at smoothing the enrollment process, closing loopholes and ultimately tamping down premiums. But while insurers are now required to disclose rate hikes of more than 10 percent, the administration can only pressure them to forgo the hikes, not block them entirely.
