State Of Washington Rejects Five Companies

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

The reasons range from no retail pharmacy to no pediatric hospital in their network. And actually, these appear to be valid reasons. But, will consumer choices be limited?

Four other carriers were approved, so there will be a fair amount of competition.

There are many reputable resources that can compare health insurance prices in Washington State.

Carol M. Ostrom of The Seattle Times has written a great article detailing the reasons behind the rejection of the five carriers.

You can read the article here.

EH.

 

[Aram Fingal]

The funny thing was that they rejected a couple of companies for the exchange that are already approved in WA for Medicaid. So people who are using those companies now will have to find another company if their economic situation improves. Duh.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

That is a bit odd. By the way, my ex-college roommate lives in Tacoma and works fir Tacoma Power. He loves it out there. Can't believe he left Ohio.

 

[Aram Fingal]

I used to live on the other side of the lake from Ohio in Ontario. I love it out here too. Beautiful scenery and no weather extremes. OH, and no mosquitoes.

 

[NWBenefitProvider]

The exchange competition will not be very strong. Reason being, only 2 of the carriers, Premera Blue Cross and Lifewise will service all counties. The other 2 cariers, Group Health and Bridgespan will cover limited counties. More will be covered by GH, and Bridgespan is only in 7 counties!

This article has a good map the shows up on the right side info box and highlights this.

Obamacare: What it will cost here | Local News | The Seattle Times

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Carol Ostrom is a good health writer.

 

[Yagents]

One of them Molina, and it's causing headaches for Medicaid in WA.
I guess the gov't can't create a perfect marketplace after all.

Washington exchange's lack of Medicaid insurers draws criticism - Puget Sound Business Journal

 

[NWBenefitProvider]

This will actually make our jobs easier, since we will only have to work with people who CAN pick a plan off the exchange. I'd rather not be involved in the medicaid market at all.

 

[AllenChicago]

Thursday, August 22, 2013

"Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler walked into Wednesday’s exchange board meeting with the expectation that the 31 plans his team had approved would be certified for the state’s new health exchange.

That didn’t happen.

Instead Kreidler was met with frustration and disappointment from the board, who wanted more options and lower deductibles for the lower-income Washingtonians expected to participate in the online insurance market."

Full Story: Insurance commissioner frustrated health exchange plans weren’t certified - Puget Sound Business Journal

I don't get it. All the exchanges had to choose a "benchmark" plan many months ago. How can the state of Washington Exchange board be so out of touch with QHP certification rules, metal level criteria, and timelines? They want lower deductibles for lower-income people. I suppose they don't want these lower-deductible plans to cost any more (or even less!) than their higher-deductible tiers?

Forty days to launch and the insurers in Washington state don't even know what their final plan designs will look like! They have to program their systems weeks before October 1st, for God's sake. I'm sure there are MANY states facing these same man-made obstacles.

-ac

 

[NWBenefitProvider]

I don't know what will happen because of this, but I am pleased that they at least let him know the plans are **** and cost a fortune. Whether or not anything comes of it, we shall see.

Thanks for the link Allen.