The chief executive officer of Minuteman Health, one of the five remaining co-ops created through Obamacare, has said that high rates are likely next year, Fierce Healthcare reported.
The co-op serves Massachusetts and New Hampshire and reported a loss of more than $700,000 in the nine months ending on September 30 of last year.
The co-op's CEO, Tom Policelli, said that if uncertainty continues, the company will likely propose high rates in 2018.
"With 2018 rate filing deadlines coming up fast, health insurers that offer plans on the Affordable Care Act exchanges are struggling to make business decisions absent the clarity they've requested from policymakers and the Trump administration," the article states.
Insurers are concerned about cost-sharing reduction payments, which have come under fire since House Republicans called them unconstitutional because they were made without an appropriation from Congress.
The Department of Health and Human Services has not said whether it would continue funding the subsidies and said it was currently making its decision.
"That puts insurers in a difficult spot, as they see April 30 as a key deadline for a decision on CSR funding," the article states.
Now, insurers are struggling with uncertainty. Sanford Health Plan, a group that operates on the individual exchanges, says it has been a struggle to keep up.
"For the larger insurers, the picture is no clearer," the article states. "When contacted, Anthem, Cigna, Aetna and Health Care Service Corp. all declined to commit to selling ACA plans next year."