Cincinnati-based Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio will no longer sell individual coverage on the state's ACA exchange by 2018, leaving residents in at least 18 counties without an exchange option next year, Dayton Daily News reports.
The insurer attributed its exit to the inability to prepare and price ACA-complaint plans due to "continual changes in federal operations, rules and guidance." While the insurer said it supports some steps CMS has taken to stabilize the individual market aimed at strengthening requirements for special enrollment periods and improving risk adjustment, a firmer insurance market is needed for insurers to set rates.
The "individual market remains volatile and the lack of certainty of funding for cost-sharing reduction subsidies, the restoration of taxes on fully insured coverage and an increasing lack of overall predictability simply does not provide a sustainable path forward to provide affordable plan choices for consumers," Anthem said in a statement obtained by Dayton Daily News.
Anthem has about 44,000 policyholders who purchased coverage through the exchange. The payer said it will continue to offer one off-exchange individual health plan in Ohio's Pike County for 2018.