Insurers drop out of state exchanges
Courtesy of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
A report released by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) this week shows that participation in the Massachusetts health insurance exchange is still robust, but some counties in other parts of the U.S. are seeing participation in state exchanges dwindle, sometimes to nothing.
CMS Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement Tuesday that individual markets in many states are facing a “crisis situation” as plans opt out of exchange participation.
The exchanges were created under the Affordable Care Act, but the cost of providing universal coverage has proven too high for many insurers, causing them to drop individual market plans.
A coverage map created by CMS shows that in plan year 2018, 49 U.S. counties are projected to have no plan issuers, meaning that people living in those areas will not be able to buy insurance through state exchanges. States with counties projected to have no participation in 2018 including Ohio, Indiana and Missouri.
It’s also projected that more than 40 percent of counties nationwide could have only one issuer in 2018. This could represent as many as 2.4 million exchange participants that won’t have access to health insurance coverage. At least 36,000 active exchange participants live in the counties projected to be without coverage in 2018, CMS said.
Massachusetts is among the states with the highest participation of insurance plans in state exchanges, with more than three carriers offering plans through the Massachusetts Health Connector.
CMS said it’s working with state departments of insurance and issuers to address bare counties, exploring all options available under current law to provide Americans with access to coverage.
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