Close call: How Pinal County could have been the only place in the U.S. with no ‘Obamacare’ choice
- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona will sell Affordable Care Act plans next year in Pinal County
- Pinal County faced the prospect of having no ACA options following other insurer exits
Nearly 10,000 Pinal County residents now enrolled in an "Obamacare" plan will have at least one option in 2017 after Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona officials confirmed the insurer will offer health plans there next year.
Pinal County faced the prospect of no Affordable Care Act plans in 2017 when Aetna last month said it would exit the marketplace in Arizona and 10 other states. The fast-growing county became the only known U.S. county without a marketplace option — as well as a national symbol of the Affordable Care Act's struggle to retain health-care insurers for the upcoming year.
Aetna's exit prompted Blue Cross Blue Shield to reconsider its earlier decision to drop Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage in Pinal County.
"We fully expected there would be alternative options," said Jeff Stelnik, Blue Cross Blue Shield's senior vice president of strategy, sales and marketing. "We were caught a little bit by surprise that Aetna would not enter Pinal County. We re-evaluated Pinal and are working to get final approval" from the Arizona Department of Insurance and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Stelnik said Blue Cross Blue Shield will seek approval for five Pinal County plans across a range of coverage tiers.
In June, the Phoenix-based insurer said that financial losses were too great — $185 million on individual marketplace plans in 2014 and 2015 — to continue selling directly to consumers in Maricopa and Pinal counties.
Arizona consumers fret as 'Obamacare' insurance options dwindle
The insurer exodus has since continued. Maricopa County residents may have only one Affordable Care Act option next year after seven insurers announced plans to exit the marketplace in Arizona's largest county. Those insurer exits mean more than 126,000 Maricopa County residents who want to keep their Affordable Care Act plans in 2017 will have to choose the lone remaining insurer: Cigna.
Stelnik said that Blue Cross Blue Shield still does not expect to sell plans directly to Maricopa County consumers next year. The insurer will sell Affordable Care Act plans in 14 of 15 Arizona counties, and it expects to be the only marketplace option in 13 of those counties.
Cost of ACA health plans to rise as insurers leave Arizona market
"Blue Cross is re-entering (Pinal) despite the fact we see significant challenges with the ACA (Affordable Care Act)," Stelnik said. "We decided to balance those financial challenges against the concern of Pinal County residents not having an option."
Cigna officials confirmed to The Arizona Republic that the insurer expects to offer marketplace plans in Maricopa County next year if state and federal regulators approve the insurer's offerings.
Cigna now has fewer than 5,000 marketplace customers in Arizona, so the insurer could face the prospect of a dramatic increase in sign-ups if Maricopa County's 126,000 marketplace customers need health-care coverage next year.
Aetna, Health Choice Insurance Co., Humana and UnitedHealth Group also won't offer marketplace plans next year in Arizona, and Health Net will scale back its offerings.