Rosendale doubts health care repeal and replace will happen any time soon

Montana's Republican insurance commissioner remains skeptical that Congress, where he hopes to win a seat in the U.S. Senate next fall, will take any action to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Stories that ran in January, just days after Rosendale took over the office of Commissioner of Securities and Insurance, quoted the commissioner as saying his party's long-promised "repeal and replace" of the law often called "Obamacare" wouldn't happen anytime soon. On Tuesday, at a gathering of about 330 people who work in the insurance and securities industries, Rosendale pointed out his prediction was correct.

"Seven months later, Sept. 27, and we still do not have a repeal and that's why as we went through the Legislative session my focus was on other things, what can we do at a state level to accommodate the health care needs of the state of Montana?"

Rosendale was the opening speaker at the Montana Insurance Summit, an event in Helena hosted by his office.

"The health insurance industry is facing major challenges and you will continue to hear me say that from my standpoint we want to focus on making sure folks have access to good health care."

His office has just completed the rate review process for the three companies that sell insurance on Montana's health insurance exchange for people who do not get insurance through their employer or a federal program like Medicare or Medicaid. The three companies operate on the exchange in Montana are Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana, Montana Health Co-Op and PacificSource.

A report from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid released this summer estimated 47 counties nationwide would have no insurance companies selling plans on the exchange by 2018 and about 1,200 counties, about 40 percent nationwide, could have only one insurance company on the exchange next year. In the several iterations of Congressional Republicans' efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, federal subsides that help insurance companies offer and consumers buy plans were proposed to be reduced.

But Rosendale said he wanted to assure the public the companies that operate in Montana are stable for the foreseeable future.

"We are in a lot better shape than many other states that only have one or two insurers in place," he said. "I can assure you any insurers that sell health insurance policies in the state of Montana, regardless of whether (subsidies) are paid or not, will be covered through 2018, and I think that is the most important thing for us to be looking at."

Blue Cross requested an average rate increase of 22 percent on the individual market for 2018, Montana Health Co-Op requested 4 percent and PacificSource requested 7.4 percent. Rate increases do not reflect federal subsidies that about 85 percent of Montanans who purchase insurance on the exchange qualify to receive. Nearly 64,000 people statewide purchase insurance on the exchange.