For UHC, what's the matter with Iowa?
This week, health insurance Centene announced that it is meeting its profit targets in the ACA marketplace. That's in marked contrast to United Healthcare, which expects to have lost a billion dollars in the marketplace by year's end -- and is withdrawing most of its offerings there in 2017.
I've previously noted that Centene is primarily a managed Medicaid company and has acted like one in the marketplace, fielding plans with low premiums, high deductibles and narrow networks. UHC, the nation's largest provider of employer-sponsored plans, put up more robust networks at higher prices in large markets.
While the contrast seems clean, there's more to the story. UHC is also a major managed Medicaid provider, and in many smaller markets its plans are price competitive. That's the case in most of Iowa, from whence it is nonetheless withdrawing. In a post on healthinsurance.org, I examine why that might be -- and wonder why, more broadly, UHC is withdrawing most of its marketplace offerings, instead of replicating the low-cost narrow network model.