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| (Photo: MICHAEL REYNOLDS, EPA) |
President Obama vowed to work with insurers in a meeting and letter Monday that comes as some states are facing little or no competition on theAffordable Care Act exchanges as companies exit the market.
Obama met with 12 insurance company CEOs, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell and two other administration officials in a meeting that occurs annually, but takes on new significance amid heightened concerns about the future of the federal and state exchanges where increasingly expensive individual plans are sold.
The meeting included insurers that are members of Blue Cross Blue Shield Association , the trade group America's Health Insurance Plans or both and didn't include Aetna or United HealthCare, which have announced plans to pull out of the exchanges for many states.
South Carolina and Alabama are grappling with what will likely be no competition for the first time in 2017 after insurers Aetna and United Healthcare announced plans to leave the whole states. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation analysis also found that 31% of counties will likely have just one insurer in 2017 and another 31% are expected to have only two.
"Most new enterprises have growing pains and opportunities for improvement," Obama said in the letter to insurers. "The Marketplace, while strong, is no exception."
Obama, who the White House said "dropped by" the Monday meeting, added in the letter that "time and experience will help drive that improvement, as will constructive policy changes."
Cigna and Humana were among the non-BCBS insurers in the meeting. Justice Department antitrust enforcers recently rejected the mergers of Aetna and Humana and Anthem and Cigna.
The exchange exits have raised fears about large premium increases when rates are approved likely by the end of the month.
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