About a million Americans had to find new health insurance at the start of 2026. CVS Health's Aetna subsidiary pulled out of the Affordable Care Act marketplace in 17 states, and at least a dozen more carriers announced they'll stop selling plans next year. When that happens, several hundred thousand more people will need to find coverage elsewhere.
The departures aren't random. When enhanced federal subsidies expired at the end of 2025, premiums jumped, and healthier enrollees dropped coverage. Insurers found themselves covering a smaller, sicker group, and one by one, they decided to stop. The numbers were no longer adding up.
Texas has lost three carriers in two years. Oregon is down another two. For the millions of people who depend on marketplace coverage, every exit gives the insurers who stay less reason to keep prices low.
CVS Health was the first major provider to leave. Its Aetna marketplace enrollees were running up medical bills that exceeded what the company collected in premiums, and CVS projected losses of up to $400 million on its ACA plans in 2025. It was the company's second retreat from the exchanges: Aetna had pulled out in 2017, returned in 2022, expanded into more states in 2023, and still couldn't make the business work.
Cigna followed in late April. The insurer's marketplace enrollment had already fallen 17% from a year earlier, and its president and incoming CEO, Brian Evanko, told ***** ysts there was no viable path to growth. Cigna will leave all 11 states where it sells plans, displacing about 369,000 enrollees, according to healthinsurance.org and Becker's Payer Issues.
#coverage #Health #insurers
The departures aren't random. When enhanced federal subsidies expired at the end of 2025, premiums jumped, and healthier enrollees dropped coverage. Insurers found themselves covering a smaller, sicker group, and one by one, they decided to stop. The numbers were no longer adding up.
Texas has lost three carriers in two years. Oregon is down another two. For the millions of people who depend on marketplace coverage, every exit gives the insurers who stay less reason to keep prices low.
CVS Health was the first major provider to leave. Its Aetna marketplace enrollees were running up medical bills that exceeded what the company collected in premiums, and CVS projected losses of up to $400 million on its ACA plans in 2025. It was the company's second retreat from the exchanges: Aetna had pulled out in 2017, returned in 2022, expanded into more states in 2023, and still couldn't make the business work.
Cigna followed in late April. The insurer's marketplace enrollment had already fallen 17% from a year earlier, and its president and incoming CEO, Brian Evanko, told ***** ysts there was no viable path to growth. Cigna will leave all 11 states where it sells plans, displacing about 369,000 enrollees, according to healthinsurance.org and Becker's Payer Issues.
#coverage #Health #insurers
2 months ago
