Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Despite National Focus On House Health Vote, Insurers Fretting Over Next Year's Coverage
The Wall Street Journal: New Health Bill Or Old, Insurers Signal They’re Ready To Make Big Changes
Insurers are sending mounting signals of trouble next year for the marketplaces where consumers buy insurance, a looming issue not eased by House passage of the Republican health bill. Regulatory filings in two states with early deadlines, Virginia and Maryland, showed several insurers seeking major premium increases for their 2018 Affordable Care Act exchange plans. (Wilde Mathews and Radnofsky, 5/4)
Reuters: Health Insurers Focused On 2018 Unknowns For Obamacare Market
While attention is focused on Republicans' fight to pass a bill to repeal Obamacare starting in 2019, health insurers are busy struggling with decisions they need to make now about how to price premiums and what markets they can afford to be in next year. Hospitals are on the other side of that coin, concerned that a spike in the cost of Obamacare premiums next year will cause many people to simply drop insurance coverage, reducing their revenues in the near future. (Humer, 5/4)
Des Moines Register: 72,000 Iowans Could Be First To Lose Coverage As Insurance Market Collapses
Iowa is the first state where consumers face the likelihood of losing all access to individual health insurance policies, but experts say other states could soon follow. The two largest health insurers offering individual coverage in Iowa, Aetna and Wellmark Blue Cross & Blue Shield, announced last month that they would stop selling such policies for next year because of heavy financial losses and uncertainty in the market. In most of the state, that left just one relatively small carrier, Medica. The situation became critical on Wednesday, when Medica leaders said they probably also will pull out of Iowa. (Leys, 5/4)
The Washington Post: One Of Maryland’s Biggest Obamacare Insurers Wants To Hike Rates 50 Percent Next Year
The head of the largest insurer in the Mid-Atlantic region warned Thursday that the Affordable Care Act marketplaces were in the early stages of a death spiral, a statement that came as the company announced its request for massive, double-digit premium increases for next year. (Johnson, 5/4)
The Baltimore Sun: CareFirst Requests Rate Hikes Of More Than 50 Percent
Maryland's largest health insurer asked state regulators Thursday for permission to raise rates by an average of 52 percent on health plans brought by individuals on the state insurance exchange under the Affordable Care Act. The other three insurance companies that sell plans on the exchange joined CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield in asking to increase rates significantly, though not as much as CareFirst. (McDaniels, 5/4)
