The two remaining insurers on Connecticut’s health insurance exchange will have an extra week to decide whether to continue selling plans through the exchange’s individual marketplace next year.
The exchange, Access Health CT, announced Tuesday the insurers now will have until Sept. 15. The date had been Sept. 8, after being moved up from Sept. 1 and, earlier, July 1, amid uncertainty over the future of the Affordable Care Act in Washington, D.C.
The state Insurance Department is reviewing requests from the two insurers still on the exchange – ConnectiCare and Anthem – for double-digit rate increases next year. The department’s decision on whether to allow those increases is expected to influence whether either will return.
“The department will make final rate determinations in advance of Sept. 15,” Insurance Commissioner Katharine L. Wade said. “We appreciate Access Health CT’s willingness to work with us to provide the maximum flexibility to make rate determinations.”
Access Health CEO Jim Wadleigh said the extension gives the exchange and its customers “a better understanding of what to expect and when.”
“It provides the carriers with the time they need to decide if they’ll offer plans for 2018 and allows our organization to prepare the best way possible for the upcoming open enrollment period, which begins on Nov. 1, 2017,” Wadleigh said.