It was in early 2021 that Congressional Democrats passed & President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which among other things dramatically expanded & enhanced the original premium subsidy formula of the Affordable Care Act, finally bringing the financial aid sliding income scale up to the level it should have been in the first place over a decade earlier.
In addition to beefing up the subsidies along the entire 100 - 400% Federal Poverty Level (FPL) income scale, the ARPA also eliminated the much-maligned "Subsidy Cliff" at 400% FPL, wherein a household earning even $1 more than that had all premium subsidies cut off immediately, requiring middle-class families to pay full price for individual market health insurance policies.
Here's what the original ACA premium subsidy formula looked like compared to the current, enhanced subsidy formula:
Oklahoma is another state where I have no access to the actual enrollment data--all I have to go by are the average requested rate changes for each carrier on the individual and small group markets. As a result, the averages for each market are unweighted.
For individual market plans, that unweighted average is a slight decrease of 0.7%, though the carriers range from as low as a 12% drop to as high as a 10% increase.
It's worth noting that BlueLincs HMO, which was only added to the OK individual market last year, is already being removed from it. In fact, as shown below, it looks like BlueLincs was a special line of policies offered at the point of a regulatory gun; apparently Blue Cross was required to create it as an option for group coverage members who move off of employer coverage. However, that regulation was apparently changed shortly thereafter, and no one ever actually enrolled in a BlueLinc plan anyway, so that's that.
For the small group market, average requested rate hikes range from as little as 4.0% to as much as a 15.2. The unweighted average is 8.3%
Oklahoma is another state where I have no access to the actual enrollment data--all I have to go by are the average requested rate changes for each carrier on the individual and small group markets. As a result, the averages for each market are unweighted.
For individual market plans, that unweighted average is just 2.2%, though the carriers range from as low as a 3.5% drop to as high as a 6.1% increase. It's also worth noting that Friday Health Plans are kaput.
Similarly, for the small group market, average requested rate hikes range from as little as 0.8% for CommunityCare to as much as a 9.3% for Aetna. The unweighted average is 4.9%.
A few weeks ago, I reported that both Nevada and Oklahoma had placed insolvent insurance carrier Friday Health Plans under receivership, leaving just two states left to do so (North Carolina and Colorado, which happens to also be the home to Friday's corporate headquarters).
It turned out that I was correct about Oklahoma, but had jumped the gun slightly re. Nevada; the insurance commissioner had petitioned the court to put Friday into receivership, but hadn't actually done so yet.
Friday Health Plans, Inc., the parent company of Friday Health Plan of Colorado, ,Inc. (HMO), has announced that it will begin to wind down its business activities throughout the country, working in close conjunction with state regulators, including the Colorado Division of Insurance.
In recent months, it became apparent that the parent company would need to raise substantial capital to continue. Friday was ultimately unable to raise that capital and on June 1, Friday Health Plans, Inc. (Parent) stated publicly that they would begin to wind down.
...Well, just one day after the Bright Healthcare bombshell news broke, Texas-based health insurance broker Jenny Chumbley Hogue sounded the alarm on another large carrier bailing on Texas next year:
And its confirmed. Email received from Friday. Buckle up folks! Individual OEP in Texas is going to be a bumpy ride! https://t.co/AMNJ4rPyr3
...Well, just one day after the Bright Healthcare bombshell news broke, Texas-based health insurance broker Jenny Chumbley Hogue sounded the alarm on another large carrier bailing on Texas next year:
Lost in all the fuss last week over the ACA's 13th anniversary, the corresponding enrollment report, and North Carolina's expansion of Medicaid to an additional 600,000 people was this announcement via the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS):
Biden-Harris Administration Announces the Expansion of Medicaid Postpartum Coverage in Oklahoma; 30 States and D.C. Now Offer a Full Year of Coverage After Pregnancy
MICHIGAN: Another One (Mostly) Bites The Dust; 12th CO-OP Drops Off Exchange, May Go Belly-Up
It appears that East Lansing-based Consumers Mutual Insurance of Michigan could wind down operations this year as it is not participating in the state health insurance exchange for 2016.
But officials of Consumers Mutual today are discussing several options that could determine its future status with the state Department of Insurance and Financial Services, said David Eich, marketing and public relations officer with Consumers Mutual.
Consumers Mutual CEO Dennis Litos said: "We are reviewing our situation (financial condition) with DIFS and should conclude on a future direction this week.”
While Eich said he could not disclose the options, he said one is “winding down” the company, which has 28,000 members, including about 6,000 on the exchange.
