Implode-o-Meter News - Health Insurers' Pullback Threatens to Create Monopolies

Nearly a third of the nation's counties look likely to have just a single insurer offering health plans on the Affordable Care Act's exchanges next year, according to a new analysis, an industry pullback that adds to the challenges facing the law.
The new study, by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, suggests there could be just one option for coverage in 31% of counties in 2017, and there might be only two in another 31%. That would give exchange customers in large swaths of the U.S. far less choice than they had this year, when 7% of counties had one insurer and 29% had two.

Many insurers are losing money on the health plans they sell through the exchanges, and the fallout is coming into focus. Companies including UnitedHealth Group Inc., Humana Inc. and Aetna Inc. have cited their losses in withdrawing from ACA marketplaces, as have smaller insurers that have been retreating, or even shutting down.

The insurers that remain are in some cases seeking sharp premium increases for next year, trying to get back in the black amid higher-than-expected costs.

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Health Insurers' Pullback Threatens to Create Monopolies