Pittsburgh-based payer Highmark will end payments for agents staffed to help individuals sign up for coverage through the ACA online marketplace, reports Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The insurer cited "unsustainable financial losses" on the federal marketplace as reason for the cuts. The decision will affect agents and brokers in Pittsburgh as well as some parts of Philadelphia, who will no longer receive payments for signing members up for ACA plans.
"These changes are often difficult for us to make as we recognize the impact they can have on the producer community," Alexis Miller, senior vice president of government markets at Highmark, wrote in a Wednesday letter to brokers. "But we believe they are necessary to achieving our goal of ensuring a sustainable ACA individual market that will continue to provide access and options in the future."
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