JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri leads the nation with the most counties who will potentially have no available subsidized plans for sale next year on the federal Health Insurance Marketplace, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
According to data from the Foundation, 44 counties in the U.S. are at risk of having no insurer on the marketplace in 2018, affecting approximately 31,268 enrollees. 25 of those counties are in Missouri, all on the western side of the state.
The Kaiser Family Foundation says that the data is still preliminary and subject to chance, as insurer participation will not be finalized until this fall.
A number of factors could change some of that, most notably Centene’s announcement that it will expand in a number of states, including Missouri and Ohio, the two states at the highest risk.
According to the Foundation:
“If a county has no exchange insurer, consumers would not be able to purchase marketplace plans with federal subsidies, including advanced premium tax credits (APTCs) and cost-sharing reductions (CSR). Tax credits make coverage more affordable throughout the year by lowering consumers’ monthly premium costs; cost-sharing reductions help lower out-of-pocket costs. In 2017, 8.7 million people (84% of all marketplace enrollees) received tax credits to cover a share of their premium and 5.9 million people (57% of all marketplace enrollees) received cost-sharing reductions.”
You can read the full report here:
Benjamin Peters was a reporter for The Missouri Times and Missouri Times Magazine and also produced the #MoLeg Podcast. He joined The Missouri Times in 2016 after working as a sports editor and TV news producer in mid-Missouri. Benjamin is a graduate of Missouri State University in Springfield.
