Chattanooga Times Free Press (TN) July 3, 2018
July 03--Despite
the end of individual mandates and cost sharing payments to insurers, the
individual marketplace for health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act
will get more insurers and competition for consumers next year in Tennessee.
Two new health
insurers are planning to enter the Tennessee market in 2019, including a new
competitor for the Chattanooga area, while two other insurers want to enlarge
their coverage areas next year in Tennessee. And after four years of
double-digit rate increases every year, premium increases under the so-called
Obamacare plans are expected to moderate in 2019 across the Volunteer State.
Two new entrants to
Tennessee's health insurance market -- the Minneapolis-based Bright Health and
Ambetter plans offered by the St. Louis-based Centene Corp. -- have applied to
sell insurance on the individual marketplace next year. Meanwhile, both Cigna
and Oscar, which entered Tennessee last year, want to expand their footprint to
other parts of Tennessee.
"What's
amazing is that even though the current administration has done away with the
individual mandate (to require persons to buy insurance) and done away with
cost sharing (payments to insurance providers to cover their increased risks
for such plans), there's more competition coming and the likelihood of a flat
rate increase next year. Carriers are making money now and there are some great
signs that the marketplace is stabilizing and will likely be around for a long
time," said Bobby Huffaker, president of the Chattanooga-based American
Exchange, a broker for individual plans under the Affordable Care Act.
In Chattanooga,
consumers buying on the individual healthcare exchange next year will again
have a choice of carriers beyond the lone current provider of so-called Obamacare
plans today from the Chattanooga-based BlueCross and BlueShield of Tennessee.
Celtic's Ambetter
has applied to provide coverage in two of Tennessee's major service areas,
including Chattanooga. Huffaker said his company has worked with Ambetter in
other states "and we think that they will provide a good opportunity in
Chattanooga and competition for consumers to choose from in this area.
"We don't know
what rates will be offered yet, but we are encouraged to see more competition
which benefits everyone," Huffaker said.
The health insurers
must file their proposed rates for health care coverage in 2019 by next week
and the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance is due to approve the
carriers and their rates for different areas of Tennessee by Sept. 25.
Open enrollment for
consumers to sign up for one of the individual plans under the health care
marketplace for 2019 will be from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15.
Tennessee's biggest
health insurer, BlueCross of Tennessee, said earlier this year it expected to
limit its individual rate hikes next year, or perhaps even stabilize or cut
some rates, after finally reversing three years of losses from individual
coverage plans under the Affordable Care Act.
BlueCross lost
nearly $500 million in the first three years of the so-called Obamacare
program. But after rate increases that more than doubled the initial price for
such plans, BlueCross made a profit last year in the individual market of $113
million and the company expects to again be profitable in the individual market
in 2018.
Individual health
insurance rates still tend to be higher per capita than are group health
insurance rates, but subsidies provided by the federal government to low- and
moderate-income persons and families for marketplace exchange plans ower the
consumer costs for such coverage for most individuals.
The individual
health exchange plans under the Affordable Care Act currently cover about
228,646 Tennesseans, or about 3 percent of all residents in the state,
according to the online news service BirdDog.
Roy Vaughn, senior
vice president of strategic communications, said in May he expects BlueCross to
moderate its rate increases for individual plans in 2019 and could end up
without any significant change in prices.
"We had a very
strong year operationally with all of our lines earning 4-star recognition [for
customer service] and all of them being profitable in 2017," Vaughn said
in May. "After three years of consecutive losses, we knew we had to get to
some level of net income and our individual policy business ended up performing
better than expected."
BlueCross announced
two years ago it was limiting its coverage area under the individual
marketplace exchange to cut its losses and risks. But the insurer returned to
the Knoxville market this year year to ensure that no part of the state was
left out of individual coverage.
"Overall, as
the market remains somewhat uncertain, we will keep our current footprint --
covering 81 of the state's 95 counties -- in 2019," BlueCross spokeswoman
Mary Danielson said Monday.
Celtic's Ambetter,
a Centene Corp., health insurance marketplace product, intends to offer
policies next year in the Chattanooga and Memphis areas. Celtic has not offered
policies in Tennessee since 2016.
Bright Health
intends to offer policies in the Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville areas.
Bright Health previously did not have a Tennessee presence.
Cigna Healthcare
intends to enter the Knoxville area and maintain its presence in the Nashville,
Memphis, and Tri-Cities rating areas.
Oscar, which
entered the Tennessee market this year in Nashville, plans to also expand to
the Memphis area next year.
"These new
players in the market obviously see opportunities in these markets and I think
that is going to be a good thing for these communities with more competition
and more choices," said Jaycee Wooley, executive director of the Tennessee
Health Care Coalition, which advocates for the Affordable Care Act and the
expansion of Medicaid coverage under the act in Tennessee. "We still want
Tennessee to join with what other states have done to expand coverage through
Medicaid. But we think these new additions to the market are encouraging and
show that despite all of the challenges, ACA (the Affordable Care Act) is still
working and needed in our state."
Contact Dave Flessner
at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or
at 757-6340
___
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Chattanooga Times/Free Press (Chattanooga, Tenn.)
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