Health insurance provider Anthem announced Wednesday that it will drop out of the state exchanges in Wisconsin and Indiana, marking the latest sign that insurance companies are finding it difficult to continue offering Obamacare plans.
The company said it will keep offering plans outside the exchanges in those states, but will stop offering Obamacare plans in 2018, The Wall Street Journal reports. Anthem, like many insurance companies who have opted out of Obamacare in recent months, cited market volatility and rampant uncertainty as reasons for its exit in Wisconsin and Indiana.
“Planning and pricing for ACA-compliant health plans has become increasingly difficult due to a shrinking and deteriorating individual market, as well as continual changes and uncertainty in federal operations,” Anthem said in a statement.
With Wednesday’s announcement, the company has now reduced its exposure on the Obamacare exchanges to only 11 states.
Anthem announced in early June that it will be pulling out of Obamacare entirely in Ohio, a decision that would likely leave nearly 20 counties in the state without a single insurer on the exchanges.
Current projections for the 2018 Obamacare exchanges expect at least 47 counties will have no insurance provider to choose from in the marketplace.
Three of the most prominent insurers on the Obamacare exchanges are either ditching Obamacare entirely or are significantly scaling back their involvement in 2018.
UnitedHealth reduced its exposure on the exchanges significantly, cutting its participation from 34 states in 2016 to just three in 2017—Virginia, Nevada, and New York. It plans to drop Obamacare plans in Virginia in 2018. Health insurance providers Aetna and Humana are pushing one step further, completely opting out of Obamacare altogether in 2018.
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