Health care approved for Grays Harbor, Klickitat still not covered

Update on Grays Harbor health care:

Grays Harbor County residents will now have health care coverage for 2018. But no insurance provider has offered to cover Klickitat County.

“Following repeated discussions, I am pleased that Premera Blue Cross has decided to offer two individual health plans to consumers in Grays Harbor County in 2018,” said Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler. “This is welcome news for that community.”

“The plans will be offered through the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, where consumers who qualify can get subsidies to help pay their premiums,” he said.

Kreidler said he is continuing discussions to get coverage for Klickitat County.

“Grays Harbor and Klickitat counties initially did not have any proposed plans for next year when insurers filed proposals with my office on June 7,” he said. “I immediately contacted insurers, urging them to reconsider their plans for 2018.”

The news comes along with another report that insurance rates in Washington are expected to rise by an average of 22.3 percent.

Original story:

Klickitat and Grays Harbor residents might not be able to get state health care next year since no company is willing to provide insurance in either county.

Insurers in Washington state had until June 7 to submit proposals to participate in the 2018 individual health insurance market — the state program under the Affordable Care Act. Out of the 11 companies that submitted proposals, no insurer opted to provide health care coverage in Klickitat or Grays Harbor Counties.

“You have to hope that you don’t get sick if you live in those two counties and you have to buy your own health insurance,” said State Insurance Commissioner Mark Kreidler.

“That means even if you are receiving a subsidy or buying it through the exchange, they don’t offer anything,” he said. “Even if you are paying all of the cost for yourself in the individual market, there is nothing offered in your county to cover you. That’s an unfortunate situation, we haven’t seen it before.”

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Kreidler said that national politics has made companies anxious about participating in the state health care program which provides health insurance to those who do not have easy access.

“I certainly lay the problem at the feet of the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress,” Keidler said. “They just keep causing problems by introducing so much uncertainty in the market that the insurers are getting extremely nervous as to whether we are going to be able to have a program going forward.”

Another issue, Keidler said, is that the two counties have historically been more difficult to insure. He notes the state Medicaid program also has problems there. That’s because it is difficult to meet standards of care requirements – it’s hard to set up a network of specialists and hospitals.

There are 1,119 people in Klickitat County and 2,227 in Grays Harbor County who were enrolled in the individual market as of March, according to the commissioner. Every single one of them is now at risk of losing health care in 2018.

Washington law says if no insurer is available, people can still be covered through the state’s high risk pool. It’s not a qualified exchange, however, and subsidies would not be available, meaning someone with cancer would have to foot the entire bill for their treatment.

Kreidler is going to personally reach out to insurance companies to cover the two counties.

“It’s an unacceptable situation, so I’m going to certainly see if I can prevail with the insurers to come back,” Kreidler. “Failing that, I’d certainly be entertaining whether there is anything that could be done on a more expedited basis working with the state legislature.