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By Robert Donachie
Major insurance providers are opting out of Obamacare entirely in counties and states across the nation, and a new map shows exactly how dire the circumstances are becoming for consumers in many areas.
Axios gathered data from the Kaiser Family Foundation regarding insurance companies participation in the Obamacare marketplace from 2014 to 2017 and mapped the results. The interactive map illustrates the trend among insurance providers to opt out of, or greatly reduce their exposure to, the Obamacare exchanges over the first four years.
The disappearing ACA insurance market https://t.co/YDTeIiVFNK pic.twitter.com/Yz6Qznh8Sv
— Axios (@axios) June 19, 2017
This year has been a particularly troublesome one for insurance providers. Major insurance companies’ exits from state exchanges in 2017 have left 21 percent of all Obamacare consumers with only one insurance provider to choose from in the marketplace.
Insurance companies have yet to file their plans for the Obamacare exchanges in 2018. Current projections for the 2018 Obamacare exchanges expect at least 47 counties will have no insurance provider to choose from in the marketplace.
Three of the most prominent insurers on the Obamacare exchanges are either ditching Obamacare entirely or are significantly scaling back their involvement in 2018. (RELATED: Insurance Providers Ditch Obamacare Follow A Similar Pattern)
UnitedHealth reduced its exposure on the exchanges significantly, cutting its participation from 34 states in 2016 to just three in 2017 — Virginia, Nevada and New York. It plans to drop Obamacare plans in Virginia in 2018. Health insurance providers Aetna and Humana are pushing one step further, completely opting out of Obamacare altogether in 2018.
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