Families hold on as Delaware's health insurance options shrink

The health insurance has allowed us to live the way we want, to be at home with the kids and create our own business," Serena Ryan said. 

"We know we needed the coverage in case something happened, even though it's a big expense."

But turmoil in the Affordable Care Act exchanges has the family "holding our breath," she said.

In some states, including Delaware, insurers have announced that next year they will not participate in the exchanges, also called online marketplaces, that serve consumers who do not get insurance at work or through government programs, such as Medicare or Medicaid. 
The insurers blame financial losses and mounting uncertainty over federal funding and rules that govern the exchanges.

In Delaware, two insurers offered coverage through the exchange over the past three years: Aetna and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, a Pennsylvania-based company.
But Aetna announced last month that it was dropping out of the Delaware exchange in 2018.

That could make Delaware the seventh state with only one insurer in its exchange. The others are Alabama, Alaska, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Carolina and Wyoming. And 11 states are down to just two insurers.

In addition, portions of some states face the prospect of having no insurer in 2018.
"Going down to one insurer is a challenging situation for sure," said Trinidad Navarro, Delaware's insurance commissioner. "Competition makes a difference, and the current administration in Washington is not making things any easier.

We expect Highmark to request significant premium increases for 2018."
A study released last month by the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan research group in Washington D.C., found premiums increased from 2016 to 2017 an average of nearly 30% in states with one insurer, 26% in states with two insurers and just 5% in states with six or more insurers

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