Jason Shafrin, aka The Healthcare Economist, has put together a concise game show-style Health Wonk Review, so head on over and check it out. One of the most interesting articles in this edition comes from Dan Diamond at California Healthline. Dan writes about the CA health insurance exchange and the notable health insurance carriers who have opted not to participate in that state’s exchange, at least for the time being. Aetna, United and Cigna are all absent from the CA exchange, and Dan looks into several reasons why some of the bigger carriers might have opted not to sell in the exchange on day one, and why some large provider networks are not going to be covered by plans sold in that state’s exchange.
Here in Colorado, Aetna stopped selling individual policies a couple years ago, so we weren’t expecting them to be in the state’s exchange, Connect for Health Colorado. United Healthcare has been a mainstay in the Colorado individual market, and while they submitted numerous plans to the DOI for small group products, they are all to be sold outside of the exchange and there don’t appear to be any individual plans in their new lineup. * EDIT * All Savers Insurance is a United Healthcare company, and will represent their individual plans in the exchange next year. Cigna, however, will be selling individual plans both inside and outside of the exchange in Colorado.
We’ve heard from carrier representatives – who are familiar with multiple state exchanges – that Connect for Health Colorado has been particularly great to work with, and that is no doubt part of the reason Colorado will have a large number of carriers and policy options available within the exchange. We’re happy to be in a state that has been actively working on healthcare reform for several years, and that moved quickly to begin building an exchange and implementing the ACA as soon as it was passed.
