After Aetna decided to partially withdraw from the Affordable Care Act exchanges, some Americans are left with a lone option for insurance, if they have any at all, U.S. News reports.
Here's what you should know.
1. Aetna announced it was leaving exchanges in 11 states, following a string of similar announcements from other insurers like UnitedHealth and Humana.
2. With insurers choosing not to participate — partially because of lost money from covering people who are sicker and seeking immediate care because they have insurance — some Americans are left with a lone plan to select, or no plan, such as the residents of Pinal County, Arizona who have no options whatsoever.
3. The 670,000 people who had Aetna in June will lose their plans, and will need to choose new ones, go uninsured or pay more for the policy they had outside of the exchanges.
4. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that one in five counties in the state of Missouri are down to a single insurance provider, and 70 percent of those counties are rural.
In Ohio, six of the 88 counties in the state will have one carrier to choose from now that Aetna is exiting.
More Coding, Billing and Collections news:
1. Concern for disadvantaged patients rises as CMS moves towards value-based reimbursement: 4 thoughts
2. Lawyer: Does digital health need reimbursement?: 5 thoughts
3. Why physicians are concerned about the pending insurance megamegers — 4 thoughts