Four health insurers file 2018 rates
Uncertainty hangs over future of fed subsidies
Against a backdrop of uncertainty on the federal level, four insurance companies still plan to sell individual policies in New Mexico through the state exchange in 2018.
The firms this week filed their proposed 2018 rates under the Affordable Care Act with the New Mexico Office of the Superintendent of Insurance, a spokeswoman confirmed Thursday.
Insurers that have submitted initial filings for the upcoming year are Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico, Molina Healthcare of New Mexico, New Mexico Health Connections and CHRISTUS Health Plan.
That’s without knowing whether former President Barack Obama’s plan will be gutted or if President Donald Trump will support government subsidies for low-income individuals.
About 55,000 New Mexicans purchased individual policies on the exchange this year.
OSI will post next year’s initial filings on its website later this month.
“It’s a two-step process,” said Heather
Widler, OSI spokeswoman. “The carriers can revise their rate structures (for bronze, silver and gold plans) in a second filing in the summer — or withdraw.”
Not only does the public get a chance to clap their eyes on policy features and costs and make comments, but so do competitors.
In the meantime, OSI staffers are evaluating the submissions and often have questions for insurers about justification for their plan prices.
Not everyone who goes through the exchange qualifies for a subsidy, but some people go through the exchange anyway because it provides tools to compare policy features, Widler said. So far, New Mexico insurers are bucking a trend in a number of markets that have seen carriers drop out altogether. According to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, New Mexico is one of 10 states projected to have three or more insurers selling individual policies through their exchanges.
CMS said that nationwide, 47 counties are projected to have no exchangebased insurers next year. It’s also projected that as many as 1,200 counties — nearly 40 percent of counties nationwide — could have only one issuer in 2018.