Is the individual health insurance market getting better in NE Iowa?

Heading into this year, there was a lot of nervousness about whether there would be insurance companies providing individual health insurance policies in Iowa.  But it's looking like there might be as many as three options to choose from in 2019.

Midwest Group Benefits consultant Brian Huinker of Decorah says there are still details to be worked out, "but we feel a lot better."  Insurance companies must file their proposed 2019 rates by July 1st, so there will be a better idea after that deadline.  Huinker says there's a question whether Wellmark will choose to offer individual health insurance policies in all 99 counties, but there should be at least two options.

One of those options would be Medica, which is the only insurer selling such health policies this year.  Medica recently announced its premiums for 2019 would increase less than 5.6 percent.  Its 2018 premiums reflected a 57 percent increase.

But Medica will face competition in 2019.  Wellmark Blue Cross & Blue Shield, the largest insurance company serving Iowa, has announced plans to re-enter the individual health insurance market in Iowa.  And the Iowa Farm Bureau has announced plans to sell a special type of individual health insurance policy targeted at young and healthy individuals.

Individual health insurance is bought by people who aren't covered by an employer insurance policy or by a government plan such as Medicare or Medicaid.  Fewer than 4 percent of Iowans have such a policy, which is subsidized by federal government payments through the Affordable Care Act.

Huinker says insurance companies will receive larger federal subsidies during 2019, which explains the greater interest.  He says the cost to a consumer is staying the same, but federal subsidies are growing in 2019.  For instance, for a 49-year-old with $35,000 income a policy with a $3,500 deductible, the net cost of that policy will still be $260 a month in 2019, but the gross cost charged to the Affordable Care Act will have gone from $650 a month in 2017 to $1,200 (estimated) in 2019.  Such financial figures make ACA more attractive to insurance companies, but more expensive for the federal government.