Blue Cross Blue Shield: Reinsurance needed to bolster ACA markets
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association said there’s an “urgent” need for Congress to fund additional reinsurance for companies offering coverage on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), saying with the individual mandate gone beginning in 2019, some action is required to keep premiums from increasing as insurers try to manage a sicker risk pool.
The association said if Congress provided $15 billion annually in reinsurance funding, along with funding the ACA’s cost-sharing reduction subsidies, premiums would fall by 17 percent next year compared to 2018 rates, erasing the 10 percent increase attributed to repealing the individual mandate.
“When's the last time you've seen an actual net reduction in rates?” Kris Haltmeyer, a vice president at the association, told The Hill. “That's the type of outcome you could have with funding reinsurance.”
Without additional funding, Haltmeyer said insurers could leave ACA markets. Declining participation has been a recurring problem for the exchanges in recent years, with parts of Nevada and Virginia at risk last year of having no insurer offering coverage on the exchanges.
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John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.