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Per The Des Moines Register April 3…
Iowa’s dominant health insurance company has decided to quit selling individual policies because of tumult in the market stemming from the Affordable Care Act and Republicans’ failed effort to replace it.
Wellmark Blue Cross & Blue Shield’s decision means more than 21,000 Iowans who bought health insurance policies from the company in the past three years will need to find another carrier — and it’s not clear all of those people will have another choice.
Wellmark President John Forsyth said his company's decision was painful but necessary, because the carrier had lost $90 million over three years covering that group of people.
“We’re an Iowa company, we’re here for Iowans, we want to do the right thing for Iowans, but we can’t allow a small subset to put the broader group in jeopardy,” he said in an interview Monday.
Forsyth said the overall problem is too few healthy, young consumers are buying health insurance. That drives up costs, because the pool of customers is filled with older Iowans with chronic, expensive health problems. “You’ve got to get those healthy people in the pool to make this work,” he said.
Monday's announcement won’t affect most of the 1.6 million Iowans who have Wellmark insurance, including policies purchased through an employer. It also won’t affect nearly 77,000 Wellmark customers who bought individual policies that took effect before Jan. 1, 2014. But it will mean the company won’t sell any new individual policies for 2018, and those who bought such policies since 2014 will lose them.
Two other carriers, Aetna and Medica, sell individual policies in much of the state. But they have not yet committed to doing so for 2018. Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen said he is worried that consumers in some Iowa counties won’t have any options if they need to buy individual health insurance policies for next year. “We are very concerned about this development,” Ommen said of Wellmark’s announcement.
More details in the article.
Wellmark to halt sales of individual health insurance policies
Iowa’s dominant health insurance company has decided to quit selling individual policies because of tumult in the market stemming from the Affordable Care Act and Republicans’ failed effort to replace it.
Wellmark Blue Cross & Blue Shield’s decision means more than 21,000 Iowans who bought health insurance policies from the company in the past three years will need to find another carrier — and it’s not clear all of those people will have another choice.
Wellmark President John Forsyth said his company's decision was painful but necessary, because the carrier had lost $90 million over three years covering that group of people.
“We’re an Iowa company, we’re here for Iowans, we want to do the right thing for Iowans, but we can’t allow a small subset to put the broader group in jeopardy,” he said in an interview Monday.
Forsyth said the overall problem is too few healthy, young consumers are buying health insurance. That drives up costs, because the pool of customers is filled with older Iowans with chronic, expensive health problems. “You’ve got to get those healthy people in the pool to make this work,” he said.
Monday's announcement won’t affect most of the 1.6 million Iowans who have Wellmark insurance, including policies purchased through an employer. It also won’t affect nearly 77,000 Wellmark customers who bought individual policies that took effect before Jan. 1, 2014. But it will mean the company won’t sell any new individual policies for 2018, and those who bought such policies since 2014 will lose them.
Two other carriers, Aetna and Medica, sell individual policies in much of the state. But they have not yet committed to doing so for 2018. Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen said he is worried that consumers in some Iowa counties won’t have any options if they need to buy individual health insurance policies for next year. “We are very concerned about this development,” Ommen said of Wellmark’s announcement.
More details in the article.
Wellmark to halt sales of individual health insurance policies
