This week, two of the four health insurers in the state that sell individual health insurance plans on the Affordable Care Act state health exchange, Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield and Aetna, have announced they will no longer offer those individual plans.
The University of Iowa's Public Policy Center's Pete Damiano says that while the exchanges are only a small part of ACA as a whole, this leaves only two insurers, one of which only sells plans to Iowans living in Allamakee, Clayton, Fayette, Howard and Winneshiek counties.
"This is one cog, and a relatively small cog, but if it affects you, it’s a really important cog. Because we haven’t been getting as many people into that pool as we’ve hoped, some of these insurers have decided it’s not worth it," he explains.
During this Newsbuzz edition of River to River, Damiano talks with host Ben Kieffer.
To start the hour, Iowa Public Radio's Joyce Russell gives an update on what's happened at the Iowa Statehouse in the past week; Iowa State University economist Chad Hart comments on how the renegotiation of NAFTA could affect Iowa's economy; and we hear from Andrew Lauver, a fifth generation farmer from Lake City. To end the hour, IPR's Charity Nebbe talks about hernew book podcast, Lit City.
