13 Plans Vie For Wisconsin Insurance Exchange
Wisconsin has announced which insurers want to offer plans in its exchange when it opens for business on Oct. 1, but much like Minnesota's MNSure exchange, few details are known.
A statement issued last week by Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner Ted Nickel listed 13 plans that have applied to offer individual coverage through the exchange, which will be operated jointly by the state and federal governments. Another nine plans have applied to offer coverage through the exchange that will provide coverage to small businesses.
However, little information was released other than the names of the insurers.
Absent are many significant players in Wisconsin's health insurance market, including Humana and UnitedHealth. Anthem Blue Cross's CompCare is among those offering coverage.
Instead, most of those providing individual coverage are medium-sized players such as Medica Health Plans, the Group Health Cooperative of Southern Wisconsin, and MercyCare. Molina Health Care, a California-based plan that offers Medicaid managed care coverage in Wisconsin and other states, also applied.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has been a vocal opponent of the ACA, going so far as to call for its repeal in a recent opinion article in the Wall Street Journal. The state has declined to expand its Medicaid program, and deferred to the federal government for operation of its exchange.
The state is also expected to spend the smallest amount per capita to publicize the ACA, about 46 cents per resident. About 10% of Wisconsin's residents, some 560,000 people, lack insurance coverage.
For the small business exchange, applicants included Medica Insurance Co., Security Health Plan, and Gundersen Health Plan. MercyCare, Arise/WPS, Health Tradition, Group Health Cooperative, Medica and Gundersen are offering coverage in both exchanges.
Although California, Florida, Indiana and several other states have already released premium data for carriers operating in their exchanges, Wisconsin has not done so, nor indicated when it would.
“It's a respectable spectrum of plans from across Wisconsin," Bobby Peterson of the Madison-based ABC Health told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “I think it bodes well for competitive pricing in the marketplace.”
Under the Affordable Care Act, exchanges are supposed to offer coverage to individuals and small businesses on Oct. 1, with policies going into effect on Jan. 1.
"This is only the first step in the process," Nickel said. "Insurers wishing to participate in the federal exchange will need to complete an additional federal review process and sign a contract to participate on the exchange."
