UnitedHealthcare plans to sell coverage on the individual health insurance market in four more states next year, expanding its return to government-run health exchanges.
Currently, the Minnetonka-based health insurer sells health plans for individuals on public-run exchanges — also known as "marketplaces" — in 22 states. With regulatory approval, the company will add New Jersey, New Mexico, South Carolina and Wisconsin.
UnitedHealthcare does not sell individual market plans on MNsure, which is Minnesota's government-run marketplace. It wasn't clear Monday how close the Wisconsin coverage would come to Minnesota's border — more details should be available by month's end, according to a company spokesman.
"For 2024, we are seeing some new marketplace entrants and expansions," said Krutika Amin, a researcher with KFF, a California-based health policy group. "The number of insurers stayed about the same from 2022 to 2023 nationally on average."
Individual market enrollment contracted from 2017 to 2019 amid steep premium increases, particularly among people not receiving subsidies, but has been growing since 2020, according to an analysis from KFF. As of early 2023, an estimated 18.2 million people had individual market coverage, the group says, the highest enrollment total since 2016.
Insurers may see the chance for growth in the individual market as states have resumed checking eligibility for coverage among Medicaid enrollees, Amin said. Some covered through the state-federal health insurance program during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic might now make too much money to qualify.
In Minnesota, for example, the state has identified more than 9,000 people who no longer qualify for Medicaid benefits and have been referred to the MNsure exchange to explore private health insurance options.
"There are still others uninsured," Amin said, "who are eligible for marketplace subsidies."
