Seven states — Alaska, Alabama, Kansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wyoming — will likely have one Healthcare Marketplace carrier in 2017. The number of states will likely climb.
Also, more than half of the country — 55% — may end up having two or less insurers to choose from on those government-run exchanges.
The research by the Avalere consultancy comes on the heels of announcements by three major insurers — Aetna (AET), UnitedHealth (UNH), and Humana (HUM) — will sharply reduce the number of areas where they will sell individual health plans in 2017.
There are several reasons:
- Financial losses on those plans.
- Failures of most Obamacare co-op insurance plans.
- Lower-than-expected enrollment
- Consumers who are costing insurers a lot in health-care benefits, and
- Troubled programs that were intended to reduce the risks insurers face
