Government Healthcare Policy, Business and Technology

Can States Do Anything to Keep Health Insurers from Leaving?

Governing: When news broke last week that health insurer Anthem would not be participating in Ohio’s marketplaces -- leaving more than 10,000 residents without insurance options -- it confirmed what many people had feared: that the uncertain future of the Affordable Care Act would send insurers fleeing state marketplaces. The news in Ohio came on the heels of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City pulling out of Missouri exchanges, leaving 25 counties and 67,000 people in the northwest corner of the state without an insurer.

Health experts had been predicting these kinds of effects, given the general uncertainty over how, or whether, Congress will act on the landmark legislation. “Insurers are in the business of making a profit, or at the very least not having huge losses. So actuaries in some companies are just throwing up their hands,” says Tim Jost, professor emeritus of health care law at Washington and Lee University.

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