Insurers fill most ‘bare’ ObamaCare counties in Ohio

Five health insurers will fill 19 Ohio counties that were slated to have no insurers on the ObamaCare exchanges next year.

Buckeye Health Plan, CareSource, Medical Mutual of Ohio, Molina Health Care of Ohio and Paramount Health Care will move into 19 of the 20 “bare counties,” ensuring people that live there will have options on the exchanges in 2018.

“Knowing 20 counties might not have access to health insurance on the exchange in 2018, our team went to work with the companies to find a way through the challenge, and together we have identified a solution,” said Ohio Department of Insurance Director Jillian Froment in a statement Monday.

{mosads}“Ohio has long had a strong insurance system and once again our insurers stepped up at an important time for thousands of Ohioans, taking unprecedented action to provide access to health insurance for Ohioans who otherwise were without options.” 

Now just one county in the state — Paulding County — is still slated to have no insurers in 2018. 

Twenty Ohio counties were at risk of having no insurers on the exchanges in 2018 after Anthem announced it wouldn’t participate next year.

The company cited uncertainty caused by the Trump administration on whether key ObamaCare insurer payments would be paid.