ATLANTA — Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens announced Thursday that he approved the premiums submitted by five health insurers for inclusion in the state’s federally run insurance exchange, even though he said they were too high.
He had sought an emergency extension on Wednesday’s deadline from U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, but she refused to grant it.
“Yesterday, after not receiving a response to my request for a 30-day delay from the secretary of Health and Human Services, I was left with no viable option but to accept the filings for the federally facilitated Georgia exchange. Although not surprised, I am disappointed in the unresponsiveness of the Obama administration,” said Hudgens, a Republican who was elected on a platform opposing the federal health reform law known as Obamacare.
The premiums and plans must be approved by both the state and federal regulators. Sebelius has until September to give her approval.
At the 11th hour, Aetna announced that it and its newly acquired subsidiary, Coventry Health Care, would not participate in Georgia’s exchange.
“This is not a step that we take lightly,” said Aetna spokesman Walter Cherniak. “We believe it is critical that our plans not only be competitive, but also financially viable, allowing Aetna and Coventry to meet the long-term needs of the exchanges in which we choose to participate.”
Both companies will continue to sell individual health insurance outside of the exchanges and through their agents. However, people with income low enough to qualify for taxpayer premium subsidies can only get them if they purchase through an exchange.
The withdrawal means residents in some parts of the state will have limited options in the exchange.
Consumers in metro Atlanta and statewide continue to have competitive choices, notes Cindy Zeldin, executive director of Georgians for a Health Future, an Atlanta-based advocacy group.
“The health insurance marketplace will be a large market for Georgians to get tax credits to purchase there. We would want as many companies as possible,” she said.
Obama administration officials remain optimistic that consumers will have better choices and improved coverage under the new law because it prohibits insurers from denying coverage to applicants in poor health or charging them more.
“We remain very confident that in these marketplaces, including in Georgia and Florida, that premiums will be affordable and consumers will have lots of choices that are affordable and meet their needs,” said Mike Hash, director of the Office of Health Reform within Health and Human Services.
Hudgens made national news Tuesday when he announced he was seeking the deadline extension. He said a review by outside actuaries concluded that the proposed premiums were justifiable even though some were as much as 198 percent higher than what a healthy person could buy today.
Under Georgia’s “file and use” law, health insurance companies can automatically use the premiums they file with the Insurance Department unless the commissioner finds they are excessive. Hudgens said the results of the outside review left him no grounds to find them excessive unless Sebelius wanted to give him a basis for denying them.
Consumers can begin shopping for a plan Oct. 1 when the state’s exchange begins operation. Coverage being Jan. 1.
