|
 More than 7 million people signed up for health insurance through
the exchanges in 2014, which were created under President Barack
Obama's national healthcare reform law and offer income-based
subsidies.
Next year, there will be 63 additional issuers in the 44 states for
which it has data, the agency said in a report. Some insurers left
the market, it said.
Healthcare.gov, which sells insurance in 36 states, will have 248
issuers in 2015, an increase of 30 percent from 2014, it said.
"We're seeing it as evidence that these are attractive marketplaces,
and just from our casual review of investor communications by the
firms, these are being seen as growth opportunities," an HHS
official said.
The nation's largest health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc, which
offered only a few plans in 2014, submitted plans in more than two
dozen states. Other large insurers have said they have either
maintained or increased their presence on the exchanges for 2015.
Aetna Inc, Humana Incand WellPoint Inc all offer more than a dozen
plans.
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell cited the
increase in the number of insurers selling plans and a study showing
that 7 in 10 Americans find the coverage affordable. "There's no
surprise ... that when folks evaluate the success of the law, the
marketplace receives much of the attention," she said in prepared
remarks for a speech at Brookings.
The report said past data has shown that for each additional
insurer, the monthly premium price in that market declines for the
benchmark plan by 4 percent.
[to top of second column] |
Based on the data collected for the 44 states, only California is
expected to have a decline in the number of insurers offering plans
to 10 from 12. New Hampshire and West Virginia, which both had only
1 insurer offering plans in 2014, will increase to 5 insurers and 2
insurers respectively. Each insurer is counted as one issuer in each
state where it sells plans.
There are six states running their own online marketplaces whose
information was not included in the report. They include Hawaii,
Kentucky Minnesota, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, and Vermont.
(Reporting by Caroline Humer and David Morgan in Washington D.C.;
Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Andrew Hay)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
