Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona won’t be raising rates next year for plans sold on the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace. The insurer is actually planning a decrease of about 1 percent.
Blue Cross Blue Shield is one of only two insurers selling coverage in Arizona through the federal exchange.
Earlier this year, the company had planned to raise rates by about 7 percent, but a Blue Cross executive said this week they won’t be doing that after all.
That’s, in part, because the insurer is assuming the federal government will continue to pay the so-called cost sharing reductions that help low-income consumers afford coverage.
But it’s unclear how the Trump administration will handle that issue and other aspects of the law like the individual mandate.
The other insurer, Centene, had initially proposed an increase of about 5 percent next year, but it’s not clear whether it will also revise its pricing like Blue Cross.
Open enrollment for the ACA marketplace begins next month.
