The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the program, is focused on ensuring that the marketplace that will remain sustainable, said Andy Slavitt, the agency’s acting administrator. His discussions with insurers suggest that the agency is moving in the right direction, he said.
“A lot of the companies are viewing that they now can put together strategies that help them succeed,” he said Monday in an interview.
Most insurers will probably continue to sell health plans in the ACA’s markets next year, Slavitt said. The government will get a look at insurers’ plans in the comings months as they begin submitting 2017 offerings and premium rates.
Balancing Act
“They’re actually now at a point where, whether they are having losses or not, they’re figuring out how they can put together a winning strategy to succeed in the marketplace,” Slavitt said. “We expect to see stability, predictability in the marketplace.”
One of Obamacare’s goals is for its health insurance markets to offer consumers a choice of quality health-care plans. At the same time, many insurers lost money in the ACA’s early years, and program administrators have to keep these companies motivated to participate in the markets, too.
“They’re walking this tightrope, and sometimes they lean towards the carriers, and sometimes they lean towards consumers, but it is a balancing act,” said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance
Reforms.
Big publicly traded companies like UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Aetna Inc. have said they’re assessing their plans for next year, after posting 2015 losses on the policies. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, which is dominant in that state, has also said it’s re-evaluating its approach.
Making Money
“The vast majority of insurers are going to stick this out and will eventually make money,” Kaiser’s Levitt said. “But no insurer is going to stick around if they’re perpetually losing money.”