The Trump administration warned Thursday that just because every county in the country will now be covered by an Obamacare insurer in 2018, that doesn’t mean people will have a choice as they look to buy a health insurance plan under the law.
“Nearly half of counties across the nation only have one health insurance option which, by definition, is not a choice,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services told the Washington Examiner.
A rural Ohio county was the last to be at risk of having no insurer in 2018, but CareSource said recently it would offer plans there.
Critics of the law have pointed to the lack of insurance options as a reason the law is imploding.
“Under Obamacare, Americans were promised access to a wide variety of high-quality, affordable coverage options,” the spokesperson said. “Obamacare has failed to deliver.”
HHS also pointed to high premiums as a reason for the law’s collapse. However, some insurers have raised premiums due to uncertainty from the Trump administration, specifically over whether it will make payments to insurers for lowering out-of-pocket costs for low-income Obamacare customers.
HHS is responsible for running healthcare.gov, a website used by residents in 39 states and the District of Columbia to buy Obamacare plans.
The agency has received criticism from Democrats, who are calling for a briefing on whether the agency is doing all it can for Obamacare enrollment. The request for a briefing comes after a report from Talking Points Memo that the agency was abandoning outreach to Latinos.
