Blue Cross to remain in ACA next year despite federal subsidies cuts
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Whether those insurance plans will be provided after next year, though, is uncertain.
Meanwhile, without the promise of the federal tax subsidies,
"Our plans are to stay in the individual market for 2018 and to be there for our members when they need us," Mackin wrote.
Mackin didn't give a firm commitment that
"We hope we can continue to serve Alabamians in the ACA individual market beyond 2018," Mackin wrote.
According to Enroll Alabama, a nonprofit created to inform people about the marketplaces and help them enroll, approximately 200,000 Alabamians have ACA health insurance plans.
The
"These payments are needed to help ensure a stable and affordable marketplace for our individual members," Mackin wrote.
Earlier in the year,
"We had already factored the potential loss of cost-sharing reduction payments into our 2018 premium recommendation to the
Still, the recommendation to the
"We have not yet received approval of these 2018 filed rates for our ACA-compliant individual plans," Mackin wrote.
"Their federal contracts say they have the right to terminate plans, so some may consider leaving the marketplaces," Claxton said of insurers.
"So what ends up happening, of course, is that instead of providing cost sharing subsidies, insurers end up providing higher premiums," Becker said.
Becker said the higher costs could force some Alabamians out of the marketplace, raising the number of uninsured in the state.
"This just creates a lot of confusion and will deter a lot of consumers from even applying in the marketplace, and for those who do have coverage, it will increase the risk of losing that coverage," Carnes said. "It's a really harmful combination."
Williamson said most hospitals in the state have very thin operating margins, due mainly to the relatively low reimbursement rates for treatments from federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and because of rising health care costs.
"So anything that increases the number of uninsured -- that ensures more bad debt and uncompensated care, and that exacerbates problems for
Staff writer
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