Indianapolis-based Anthem threatened to exit more ACA exchanges next year if uncertainty regarding the government's funding of cost-sharing reductions, which help offset the cost of providing discounted deductibles to eligible exchange enrollees, persists, Bloomberg reports.
Anthem CEO Joseph Swedish told investors during a conference call Wednesday if the payer isn't "able to gain certainty on some of these items quickly, we do expect that we will need to revise our rate filings to further narrow our level of participation."
So far this year, Anthem announced ACA exchange exits in Indiana, Ohio, Nevada and Wisconsin. Those markets reflect roughly 10 percent of its ACA exchange membership, the report states.
In addition to greater scale back in the individual market, Anthem predicts it will need to hike premium rates for ACA exchange plans 18 percent to 20 percent if CSR funding isn't confirmed. Mr. Swedish said some "critical decisions will have to occur in a relatively short period of time," Bloomberg reports.
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