More than 3,000 people affiliated with the business of health care filled the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle this past June 11-13th. They were all part of America’s Health Insurance Plans Institute 2014 – a health insurance industry trade conference.
I was sent there by Capital Public Radio and Kaiser Health News to learn more about how insurers are preparing for the second year of the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act. I wanted to hear straight from the insurers how they’re designing health plans, and what new geographic areas they’re expanding to or retreating from.
Erica Coe of McKinsey & Company analyzed data from the first open enrollment period on the exchanges. She later connected me to the company's real-time tracking of insurers’ movements in and proposed rates for the 2015 state exchange markets.
State exchange leaders from Kentucky, Minnesota and Washington presented about their experiences with the first year of the exchange, during which Richard Onizuka, Executive Director from Washington Healthplanfinder announced four new insurance carriers had applied to be in their marketplace.
Those two panel discussions were enough to inspire me to do the following coverage for Kaiser Health News.
Washington And Other States See New Insurers On Exchanges
SEATTLE — Washington State’s health insurance exchange is looking to be an attractive marketplace for new health insurance carriers, according to an early analysis of insurer premium rate filings by McKinsey & Company.
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More states have reported insurer rate filings since this writing. The most notable state is Nevada, right in our listening area. I got a heads up about Nevada’s exchange filing dates while I was at the health insurance conference.
Nevada's Health Exchange Sees Increased Interest from Insurers
Time Insurance company has applied to offer health policies in major metropolitan areas through Nevada Health Link next year.
The company already offers coverage in the state, but not to people who may be looking for subsidies through the new exchange.
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I’m still monitoring insurers’ decisions about where to sell and not sell policies next year. Stay tuned for more coverage.
Click to read more stories from the collaboration between Kaiser Health News, NPR and Capital Public Radio.
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