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 The moves come after Republican senators last month failed to repeal
and replace Obamacare, former President Barack Obama's signature
healthcare reform law, creating uncertainty over how the program
providing health benefits to 20 million Americans will be funded and
managed in 2018.
Hundreds of U.S. counties are at risk of losing access to private
health coverage in 2018 as insurers consider pulling out of those
markets in the coming months.
Nevada had said in June that residents in 14 counties out of 17 in
the state would not have access to qualified health plans on the
state exchanges. Anthem's decision to leave the state entirely does
not increase the number of "bare counties" in the state, Nevada
Insurance Commissioner Barbara Richardson said in a statement.
The insurer will still offer "catastrophic plans," which can be
purchased outside the state's exchange and are only available to
consumers under 30 years old or with a low income.
Anthem also said it will only offer Obamacare plans in 85 of
Georgia's 159 counties. It said the counties it will continue to
offer the plans in are mostly rural counties that would otherwise
not have health insurance coverage for their residents.
It said these changes do not impact Anthem’s Medicare Advantage,
Medicaid or employer-based plans in either state.
The company said last week that it will pull out of 16 of 19 pricing
regions in California in 2018 where it offered Obamacare options
this year.
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Anthem blamed the moves in part on uncertainty over whether the
Trump administration would maintain subsidies that keep costs down.
U.S. President Donald Trump last week threatened to cut off subsidy
payments that make the plans affordable for lower-income Americans
and help insurers to keep premiums down, after efforts to repeal the
law signed by his predecessor, President Barack Obama, failed in
Congress.
Trump has repeatedly urged Republican lawmakers to keep working to
undo Obama's Affordable Care Act.
(Reporting by Michael Erman and Bill Berkrot in New York; Editing by
Chizu Nomiyama and Lisa Shumaker)
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