Anthem Leaves Ohio ACA Exchange

June 2017 ~

Anthem has announced that it will pull out of Ohio’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) individual insurance marketplace for the 2018 plan year.

The national health insurer states that the shrinking individual market, changes in federal operations, rules and guidance combined with the uncertainty over funding for cost-sharing subsidies have it has made it increasingly difficult to establish prices and make other decisions about ACA plans.

“The individual market remains volatile and the lack of certainty of funding for cost sharing reduction subsidies, the restoration of taxes on fully insured coverage and, an increasing lack of overall predictability simply does not provide a sustainable path forward to provide affordable plan choices for consumers,” the insurer said in a statement. “A stable insurance market is dependent on products that create value for consumers through the broad spreading of risk and a known set of conditions upon which rates can be developed.”

Ohio had one of the country’s most competitive insurance marketplaces in 2016, with 17 insurers selling on the exchange in Ohio and four offering plans state-wide. In 2017, there are still 11 insurers participating in the exchange.

The state’s Department of Insurance anticipates the move will leave about 10,500 Ohio residents in 18 to 20 counties without an insurance option on the exchange unless another carrier steps in.

*NOTE: This decision doesn’t impact members on Anthem’s grandfathered individual plans, purchased before March 23, 2010, or grandmothered individual plans, purchased before December 2013.

Source(s): The Wall Street Journal; Modern Healthcare; Reuters; The Hill; Biz Journals;