Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Project Major Obamcare Exchange Losses, Take Steps to Begin Exit
From
Fierce HealthPayer:
In yet another sign of trouble for the Affordable Care Act exchanges, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) is projecting a loss of more than $400 million on its ACA policies for 2014 and 2015, the News & Observer reports.
As a result of those significant losses, which the newspaper says the insurer announced to insurance agents last week, BCBSNC will eliminate sales commissions for agents, stop accepting applications for ACA policies online and terminate its advertising of ACA policies.
Those moves echo the steps taken by the country's largest insurer, UnitedHealth, to respond to its losses in the individual market, which totaled $720 million in 2015. In addition, United may stop offering ACA policies altogether in 2017. Losses in individual business also dragged down the fourth-quarter earnings of major insurer Anthem.
