Home Local News IOWA PROPOSES NEW HEALTH INSURANCE EXCHANGE PLAN

IOWA PROPOSES NEW HEALTH INSURANCE EXCHANGE PLAN

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Iowa insurance commissioner Doug Ommen is proposing a plan he thinks could keep Iowa from becoming the first state to lose all of its health care insurance carriers offering policies on the Affordable Care Act exchange.

Ommen says Minnesota-based Medica is the only remaining statewide insurer on the exchange and has said it will drop out if changes aren’t made.


OC……….their options. ;13

Ommen’s plan reallocates federal subsidies currently used to lower costs for older participants to entice younger people into the insurance market.


OC…….persistent health condition. ;17

It uses federal reinsurance dollars to help insurers absorb high-cost claims.

Ommen says Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield has committed to selling insurance in all 99 Iowa counties next year if the plan is approved.


OC……..individual commercial market. ;09

Without plan approval, Ommen says Medica will drop out and 72,000 Iowans will be uninsured next year.

Ommen says they will be talking with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and hope to have some idea within the next 14 days or so if the stopgap will be approved.