Federal officials confident in Obamacare exchanges despite lack of choices
Top federal Health and Human Services officials say consumer choice is a "key" protection for consumers, but say they are not worried about markets like North Carolina where many will have only one choice of an insurance carrier.
Posted — UpdatedThat's due to what Kathryn Martin, an acting assistant secretary, described as "two key Affordable Care Act protections." One of those is tax credits that ratchet up along with sticker price of insurance plans. The other protection she touted was consumer choice – the ability of consumers to shop around.
"We know that shopping around during open enrollment plays a very important role for consumers," Martin said during a conference call with reporters.
Several reporters on the call questioned officials about the conflict between choice being a consumer protection and the lack of choice consumers in many states will experience in 2017.
Cohen and Martin were pressed several times about the lack of options on the exchanges, particularly in rural areas. They insisted that the rates of uninsured people were still going down and that people could still find affordable coverage.
"Entry and exit from the market is a normal part of the marketplace," Cohen said.
Brendan Riley, a health policy analyst with the liberal-leaning North Carolina Justice Center's Health Advocacy Project, points out that, just because many consumers won't have a choice of insurers on the exchange, doesn't mean they won't have a choice of plans.
At a minimum, he said, Blue Cross Blue Shield will offer different levels of plans with varying premiums and deductibles, and it's possible the insurer will offer different plans at each of those levels.
"There is some element of choice, but it may not be the same element of choice you would have with competition from other insurance carriers," Riley said.
Riley agreed with the federal officials who said that tax subsidies offered to those shopping on the exchange would be key. For the current year, he said, 91.5 percent of consumers on the exchange received some sort of subsidy.
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