Tag Archives: Anthem

Anthem to exit Obamacare market in Virginia next year

FILE PHOTO: The office building of health insurer Anthem is seen in Los Angeles, California February 5, 2015. REUTERS/Gus Ruelas/File Photo

(Reuters) – U.S. health insurer Anthem Inc <ANTM.N> said on Friday it will exit Obamacare markets in Virginia and reduce its plan offerings in Washington and Scott counties and the city of Bristol next year.

The move comes nearly two weeks after President Donald Trump took aim at insurers by threatening to cut the healthcare subsidy payments that make Obamacare plans affordable, after repeatedly failing in his efforts to dismantle former President Barack Obama’s healthcare law.

Insurers are facing an upheaval in their health insurance businesses due to uncertainty over the healthcare legislation as Republican lawmakers seek to follow through on their promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Health insurers, such as UnitedHealth Group Inc <UNH.N>, Aetna Inc <AET.N> and Humana Inc <HUM.N>, have also exited most of the states where they used to sell plans.

The insurers have asked the government to commit to making the $8 billion in subsidy payments for 2018, saying they may raise rates or leave the individual insurance marketplace if there is too much uncertainty.

On Monday, Anthem said it would no longer offer Obamacare plans in Nevada’s state exchange and half of Georgia’s counties in 2018.

The company said on Friday it will only offer off-exchange plans in Washington and Scott counties and the city of Bristol.

Hundreds of U.S. counties are at risk of losing access to private health coverage in 2018 as health insurers consider pulling out of those markets in the coming months.

Last week, Molina Healthcare Inc <MOH.N> said it would stop selling Obamacare plans in Utah and Wisconsin.

(Reporting by Divya Grover in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

Anthem to pare back Obamacare offerings in Nevada and Georgia

FILE PHOTO: The office building of health insurer Anthem is seen in Los Angeles, California February 5, 2015. REUTERS/Gus Ruelas/File Photo

(Reuters) – U.S. health insurer Anthem Inc <ANTM.N> said on Monday it will no longer offer Obamacare plans in Nevada’s state exchange and will stop offering the plans in nearly half of Georgia’s counties next year.

The moves come after Republican senators last month failed to repeal and replace Obamacare, former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare reform law, creating uncertainty over how the program providing health benefits to 20 million Americans will be funded and managed in 2018.

Hundreds of U.S. counties are at risk of losing access to private health coverage in 2018 as insurers consider pulling out of those markets in the coming months.

Nevada had said in June that residents in 14 counties out of 17 in the state would not have access to qualified health plans on the state exchanges. Anthem’s decision to leave the state entirely does not increase the number of “bare counties” in the state, Nevada Insurance Commissioner Barbara Richardson said in a statement.

The insurer will still offer “catastrophic plans,” which can be purchased outside the state’s exchange and are only available to consumers under 30 years old or with a low income.

Anthem also said it will only offer Obamacare plans in 85 of Georgia’s 159 counties. It said the counties it will continue to offer the plans in are mostly rural counties that would otherwise not have health insurance coverage for their residents.

It said these changes do not impact Anthem’s Medicare Advantage, Medicaid or employer-based plans in either state.

The company said last week that it will pull out of 16 of 19 pricing regions in California in 2018 where it offered Obamacare options this year.

Anthem blamed the moves in part on uncertainty over whether the Trump administration would maintain subsidies that keep costs down.

U.S. President Donald Trump last week threatened to cut off subsidy payments that make the plans affordable for lower-income Americans and help insurers to keep premiums down, after efforts to repeal the law signed by his predecessor, President Barack Obama, failed in Congress.

Trump has repeatedly urged Republican lawmakers to keep working to undo Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

(Reporting by Michael Erman and Bill Berkrot in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Lisa Shumaker)