Dive Brief:
- Recent data from the CMS indicates bronze-level health plans were the least profitable plans in the market in 2014, InsideHealthPolicy reported.
- The data is based on health plans that paid into the federal government's controversial risk adjustment program and received payment for accepting more risk.
- As a result, some experts suggest insurers might stop offering bronze-level coverage.
Dive Insight:
One example already exists, InsideHealthPolicy reports, in which a Virginia CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield subsidiary is set to change its bronze plans into silver-level plans for 2017--in a move that could set a "troubling precedent" for the industry.
Another expert takes the opposite view, however, as health policy expert Tim Jost argues insurers will want to keep bronze plans to keep those low-risk enrollees.
"It seems to me that if bronze attracts healthier individuals, insurers would stay with them unless the risk adjustment payments more than compensate for the lower costs of coverage," Jost told InsideHealthPolicy.