Optima was originally going to take over the counties that Anthem exited, now they changed their mind:
After insurer departures, 70,000 Virginians will not be able to purchase health coverage in 2018 | Business | roanoke.com
After insurer departures, 70,000 Virginians will not be able to purchase health coverage in 2018 | Business | roanoke.com
The Affordable Care Act exchange is collapsing in Virginia, with the last potential insurer pulling out of western Virginia and leaving about 70,000 people without the ability to purchase health insurance for 2018.
“Any individual, regardless of income, who purchased an individual policy — on the exchange or non-exchange — won’t be able to buy a policy next year,” Carilion Clinic Chief Financial Officer Don Halliwill said Tuesday. “When people think of the exchange, they think of poor people. That’s not accurate. It’s all income levels.”
About 40,000 of the people affected live within Carilion’s service area.
Should nothing change before the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid’s Sept. 27 deadline for insurers to participate, parts of Virginia, including the Roanoke and New River valleys, will be the only places in the U.S. without at least one insurer, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Open enrollment starts Nov. 1 for policies that take effect Jan. 1.