Still, choice will be more restricted than this year, when all enrollees had at least two carriers to choose from and 93 percent could pick from three or more.įor the 4 percent who won’t have a choice in 2018, “it is a huge inconvenience for them to have to sign up for another plan … particularly people who are in the middle of treatment or have ongoing health care needs,” Ma said.Ĭovered California said in an email that it will strive to bring choice and competition to those people in the coming years. About 144,000 people who purchase their policies outside the exchange will also be forced to switch insurers, Anthem reported.īut the state insurance market remains broadly competitive despite Anthem’s impending departure, and most people will have choices, said Tam Ma, a legal and policy director for the advocacy group Health Access California.Īccording to Covered California, 96 percent of its enrollees will have at least two plans to choose from next year, and 82 percent will have three or more. Overall, 153,000 Anthem policyholders in Covered California will have to find new plans. (Kaiser Health News, which produces California Healthline, is an editorially independent program of the foundation.)
But that may change before insurers sign contracts in the fall. could have no exchange-based insurance options at all, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Nationally, nearly a quarter of Obamacare exchange enrollees will have just one insurer in their areas next year, and another quarter will have two carriers to choose from, according to a Bloomberg News analysis.Ībout 381 people in two counties - Paulding, Ohio, and Menominee, Wis. The 28 counties where it will continue to offer plans are mostly in the rural parts of Northern and central California.īlue Shield is the only insurer that will offer plans statewide on the exchange in 2018.
The increase in premium assistance would absorb a significant portion of the rate hikes.Īnthem cited uncertainty at the federal level and an unstable marketplace in its decision to withdraw from 16 of 19 pricing regions in the individual market.
#BLUE CROSS ANTHEM CALIFORNIA FULL#
They will have to shoulder the full amount of the increase if the Blue Shield premiums are higher than what they are paying now.Ĭovered California enrollees whose incomes qualify them for the tax credits won’t bear the entire rate increases because as premiums rise, so do the credits. The lack of competition means “there are definitely going to be people who will have to pay more for their health insurance,” Knauss said.Ĭonsumers who live in the one-plan areas and don’t receive federal tax credits to lower the cost of their premiums will be the most affected, he added. “If one of goals … was to provide a competitive marketplace where people will have options and real choices, then there is a failure to meet that goal” in those areas, said Kevin Knauss, an insurance agent based in Granite Bay, outside Sacramento. It’s not clear how many people that includes. Californians in those areas who buy their plans outside the Covered California exchange may also be limited to one insurer.
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