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Spurned by budget bill, insurers look to higher premiums

The spending bill was the insurance industry's last chance to bring down premiums before plans have to make decisions on where to sell and how to price coverage next year.

Gavel on flag The $30 billion reinsurance program that was the top priority of health insurers was dropped from the spending bill on Monday, as was funding for cost-sharing reduction payments. (Photo: Shutterstock)

The two-year omnibus budget bill that has passed the House and Senate doesn’t include any cost-sharing reduction payments or a federal reinsurance program. And that’s got insurers thinking about raising premiums yet again, or simply bailing out of the individual market in 2019.

That’s according to a report in Modern Healthcare, which says that insurers had been lobbying hard for the bill to contain help for them. Now that it looks as if the window of opportunity has closed, insurers are contemplating other strategies.

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Marlene Satter

Marlene Satter

Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.

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