Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Harken Health To Leave Obamacare Exchanges In Illinois, Georgia
Chicago Tribune: Harken To Exit Illinois Obamacare Exchange
Harken Health is abandoning the state's Obamacare health insurance marketplace. Harken, a subsidiary of UnitedHealthcare, said Thursday it will not offer plans on the exchange next year. Insurers Aetna, UnitedHealthcare and Land of Lincoln already have announced they won't offer plans on the exchange next year. "It's just another reduction in options for Illinois consumers," said Phil Lackman, CEO of the Independent Insurance Agents of Illinois. (Schencker, 9/29)
Bloomberg: Harken Exits Obamacare Markets As UnitedHealth Startup Struggles
UnitedHealth Group Inc., the biggest U.S. health insurer, is scaling back its experiment in Obamacare markets as its Harken Health Insurance Co. startup withdraws from the two exchanges where it was selling plans. Harken will not offer individual plans through Obamacare exchanges in Georgia and Chicago in 2017, the company said Thursday in an e-mailed statement. It will continue to offer individual plans off the exchange, Harken said. (Tracer, 9/29)
Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealth Subsidiary Ditches ACA Exchange After Posting Losses
UnitedHealth Group's experimental health plan subsidiary is pulling out of the Affordable Care Act exchange markets in Chicago and Atlanta after losing nearly $70 million in the first six months of 2016. And its founding CEO, who spearheaded the plan's primary care-focused benefit design, has been replaced by a new leader. Harken Health started selling individual and group plans on and off the exchange in the two markets last January. It reportedly has about 35,000 members in those markets. (Meyer, 9/29)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Arise To Leave ACA Marketplaces
Arise Health Plan, a subsidiary of WPS Health Solutions, said Thursday that it will not sell health plans on the marketplaces set up through the Affordable Care Act next year, becoming the latest company to abandon the market. Arise and WPS Health Insurance also will sell only high-deductible health plans for individuals and their families off the marketplace, and those plans will be available only in a limited number of counties. (Boulton, 9/29)
Kansas Health Institute: Kansans’ Marketplace Choices Finalized For 2017 Coverage
Kansans will get to choose between two insurance companies when open enrollment begins Nov. 1 for 2017 coverage through the Affordable Care Act’s online marketplace. But for Kansans outside the Kansas City metropolitan area, one company will offer only HMO plans that restrict coverage to in-network providers. The Kansas Insurance Department published an overview of the marketplace choices this week. A new insurer, Minnesota-based Medica, has entered the Kansas market and will sell seven traditional health insurance plans — with varying premiums and levels of coverage — in all counties. (Marso, 9/29)
Deseret News: Individual Exchange Health Plans To Go Up Average Of 30 Percent
Rates for health insurance plans on the individual marketplace are likely to rise by an average of 30 percent next year, the Utah Department of Insurance said Thursday. The second-lowest silver plan — the benchmark plan used to calculate tax subsidies for enrollees on the marketplace — is a SelectHealth plan with premiums of a little over $200 a month, according to insurance department officials. (Chen, 9/29)
