Dive Brief:
- Health insurers are struggling to set 2015 places for health exchange plans because some of the most essential factors they need to consider aren't known yet.
- What's troubling health insurers is that they still don't know the size of provider networks that the federal government will approve or the health status of new beneficiaries.
- Without such information, it's also hard for insurers to tell which markets to participate in next year.
Dive Insight:
It seems clear that until some things settle down in the health insurance marketplace, insurers will be reluctant to take new risks. Some insurers may exit individual markets or avoid entering new ones. For example, Cigna CEO David Cordani told Reuters that the insurer hadn't decided whether it will enter any new markets. The bottom line is that health exchange plans will be a difficult and risky game for insurers for at least the next year or two.