CareSource, a Dayton, Ohio-based managed care company, will sell ACA health plans next year in the last U.S. county without health coverage on the exchanges, reports The Hill.
The company will sell the plans in Paulding County, Ohio. With the move, CareSource has now covered 13 bare counties total in Indiana and Ohio, according to the report.
CareSource is among the insurers agreeing to cover counties at risk of lacking health coverage on the 2018 exchanges. In one example, a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Centene announced Aug. 15 it will offer its Ambetter ACA marketplace product in Nevada's bare counties. Centene has also agreed to fill 25 Missouri counties that were at risk of lacking an insurer on the exchanges next year, according to the report. Additionally, Forbes reports Minnetonka, Minn.-based Medica and many Blue Cross Blue Shield plans have agreed to provide coverage in bare U.S. counties.
Still, The Hill notes bare counties could potentially still exist next year, as insurers have until Sept. 5 to file final rates for 2018 ACA exchange plans in most states and final contracts aren't due until Sept. 27. Uncertainty also surrounds the long-term future of ACA cost-sharing reduction payments — which help insurers selling plans on the exchanges to subsidize the cost of coverage for low-income Americans.