After years in which many insurers lost money, then lost even more in 2015, “we are seeing the first signs in 2016<br />that this market could be manageable for most health insurers,” the Standard & Poor’s analysts said.<br />Just this week, two of the three largest insurance companies in Iowa, Wellmark Blue Cross<br />and Aetna, said they would stop selling individual policies in the state next year.<br />“If you are an insurer and think the exchange is here to stay, your tolerance for annual losses is higher,” she said, “and it’s a long-term strategy.”<br />A version of this article appears in print on April 8, 2017, on Page B7 of the New York edition<br />with the headline: Insurers Stem Losses, and May Soon Profit, From Health Law Plans.<br />The analysis, by Standard & Poor’s, looked at the performance of many Blue Cross plans in nearly<br />three dozen states since President Barack Obama’s health care law took effect three years ago.<br />While Mr. Banerjee predicted insurers would probably raise their prices only moderately next year, he said<br />questions over whether there would be as much government financing could lead to much sharper increases.
