About 38 percent fewer insurers are applying to participate in Obamacare exchanges, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Only 141 insurers had applied to offer coverage compared to 227 at the same time last year, and CMS projected as many as 1,200 counties could have only one issuer in 2018 and 47 could have none. The agency published a map with its findings in mid-June.
"This is yet another failing report card for the exchanges," CMS Administrator Seema Verma said. "The American people have fewer insurance choices, and in some counties no choice at all. CMS is working with state departments of insurance and issuers to find ways to provide relief and help restore access to healthcare plans, but our actions are by no means a long-term solution to the problems we're seeing with the insurance exchanges."
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price agreed with CMS's critique and urged Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare.
"Congress must act now to repair the damage Obamacare has inflicted and put in place a patient-centered system that is responsive to the needs of individuals and families, not the demands of Washington," he said in a press release.
The Senate is back in Washington after a July 4 recess and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is looking to salvage the GOP healthcare bill after he delayed a decision on the vote following a CBO analysis that said the legislation would leave 22 million more Americans uninsured by 2026 than under former President Barack Obama's healthcare law.
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