UnitedHealth Group and Centene are among health insurers expanding sales of individual coverage … [+]
UnitedHealth Group and Centene are among health insurers expanding sales of individual coverage under the Affordable Care Act to dozens of new counties by 2025.
These expansions come amid the increasing popularity of Obamacare, with record enrollment for individual coverage purchased on exchanges under the ACA, in part because tax credits have continued and expanded to more Americans under the Biden-Harris administration. And that has contributed to this reporting reaching a record number of registrations more than 20 million Americans this year.
“UnitedHealthcare individual and family ACA marketplace plans are now available in 30 states, offering affordable coverage with a broad range of benefits, cost transparency and predictability, and a simple enrollment and member services experience,” said Marcus Robinson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare Individual & Family plans said Tuesday.
Announcements from health insurers come ahead of open enrollment, which begins Nov. 1 and runs through Dec. 15 for coverage beginning Jan. 1, 2025. according to the federal government website.
By 2025, UnitedHealthcare will expand its individual and family plans available on the ACA marketplaces to 139 counties in four new states: Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska and Wyoming. UnitedHealthcare’s Obamacare footprint expansion also adds 119 new counties in the 13 states where the insurer already sells such coverage. Those states are Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin, the company said.
“With these new coverage areas, we will have a presence in more than 1,250 counties in 30 states nationwide: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska , Nevada, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming,” UnitedHealthcare said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Centene, the nation’s largest provider of Obamacare, has Wednesday said the company will expand its geographic footprint, “adding 60 new counties in 10 states by 2025, including expansion into Iowa.” That means Centene’s Ambetter Health, which was already the largest provider of individual coverage under the ACA with more than 4.4 million health plan members, will be available in 29 states across the US.
“Our continued geographic and product expansion gives us a unique opportunity to provide comprehensive, affordable health insurance solutions to more members for the 2025 plan year,” said Kevin Counihan, Chief Executive Officer of Ambetter Health. “This will provide even greater access to high-quality health care in the communities we serve across the country.”
Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, which are also among the largest providers of individual health insurance, are also expanding Obamacare within their existing markets.
Take Health Care Service Corp., which operates Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Montana. The insurer currently offers individual coverage under the ACA in 522 counties in the five states where it operates.
“We will offer additional products in seven counties in Texas and Oklahoma in 2025,” a health care spokesperson said Thursday. “We will continue to offer plans in 5 states and each of the 522 total counties within them through 2025.”