If the subsidies ended in 2018, the lack of funding “would cause further market instability,” Mr. Swedish<br />said, which would make the company’s participation in the federal market “even more challenging.”<br />While the Republican-controlled Congress and President Trump insist<br />that the markets under the Affordable Care Act have been “imploding,” Anthem’s earnings report on Wednesday offered another sign that some markets were stabilizing.<br />Anthem Threatens to Leave Health Exchanges if Subsidies Are Halted -<br />By REED ABELSONAPRIL 26, 2017<br />Even as Anthem, one of the nation’s largest insurers, reported an improved financial picture for the last year, the company warned on Wednesday<br />that it would consider leaving some federal health care marketplaces or raising its rates sharply if the government does not continue subsidies to help low-income people.<br />In comments this week on CNBC, Express Scripts’ chief executive, Timothy C. Wentworth, said<br />he would like to keep Anthem’s business, adding, “We’ve given them terrific service.”<br />In its call with investors, Anthem seemed to suggest that it had not decided which company it would pick to handle its drug business.<br />While Mr. Swedish praised some of the steps that have been taken to stabilize the markets, he also urged the Trump administration<br />and Congress to eliminate the tax on health insurance as a way of keeping premiums lower and to create a reinsurance program or high-risk pool to help insurance companies pay claims for people with very high medical expenses.<br />Joseph R. Swedish, the company’s chief executive, set a deadline of early June for a decision on<br />the subsidies, saying Anthem would weigh increasing rates by at least 20 percent next year.
