Major insurers to expand Obamacare markets in 2015

Despite dire predictions on insurers’ future in the public exchange, two leading carriers are actually expanding their presence.

Life & Health

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Health insurers are facing a moment of truth. With deadlines for 2015 policy rates starting this month, carriers must make tough choices about pricing and market presence in the federal and state-run insurance exchanges.

And while major groups like Aetna have expressed trepidation about certain “unknowns”—age and health status of new enrollees, for example—two of the nation’s leading carriers are feeling a bit more optimistic.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield and UnitedHealthcare are both planning market expansions for the 2015 enrollment seasons. Already present in 47 states, Blue Cross and Blue Shield said its health plans will likely be offered in 49 next year. Meanwhile, UnitedHealthcare is expanding its four-state presence to include the Connecticut exchange.

“[W]e see 2014 as just the beginning for exchanges,” UnitedHealth spokesman Tyler Mason told Politico. “As the economics, sustainability and dynamics of exchanges continue to become clearer, we believe exchanges have the potential to be a growth market with much to offer UnitedHealthcare and other insurers and consumers.”

The expansion is hoped to herald greater competition in some state markets where diverse offerings are lacking. However, that may be a trend longer in the making as insurers still wait to see what their fortunes held in Obamacare’s initial year.

Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini told CNBC that without seeing “the population we have today,” tough questions about rate increases and Aetna presence have yet to be answered.

Cigna spokesman Joe Mondy was similarly close-lipped and non-committal on prspects going forward. He told Politico:

“Looking ahead, we will continue to analyze our experience in the exchange markets and continue to work closely with the individual states to determine what our exchange offerings will look like.”

Other carriers, including Kaiser Permanente and Molina Healthcare, are planning on staying put in the states where it is currently offering exchange plans.

Attracting new carriers and maintaining existing offerings is one of the charges put to Sylvia Matthews Burwell, the nominee tapped to succeed Kathleen Sebelius as secretary of Health and Human Services. Producers are hopeful Burwell will succeed in the quest, as a lack of competition may be hurting their own businesses.

Wayne Sakamoto hasn’t dealt directly with the federal exchange in his agency practice, but as a member of the Florida Association of Health Underwriters he has heard plenty on the complications inherent in a market with limited choices.

“When you look at rural America and it’s just one insurance company, it can make it challenging,” Sakomoto said. “Also, some of those health plans are only offering various streamlined networks.

He is hopeful tax credits offered to people enrolling in plans outside the exchange will open up more choices to both healthcare shoppers and their agents in the long run.

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