Anthem Blue Cross will not sell policies to California small businesses through a new marketplace created by ObamaCare.
The healthcare law establishes new insurance exchanges in each state, where individuals and small businesses can shop for coverage. Anthem Blue Cross said it does not intend to participate in California's small-business exchange, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
Anthem is the state's largest insurer for small businesses.
The company said it still intends to sell policies outside of the small-business exchange, according to the Times — so its decision to stay out of the exchange could hamper the state's ability to make the marketplace attractive to businesses.
"That's really surprising and not a good thing for the exchange," Micah Weinberg, a senior policy adviser at the Bay Area Council, an employer-backed San Francisco group, told the newspaper.
