UnitedHealthcare plans to join New Jersey’s health insurance exchange and sell policies that would go into effect in 2015.
The move, announced Monday, would give consumers more choices in a state whose insurance premiums are among the nation’s highest.
“Just having another (insurer) could make it cheaper for people,” said Beatriz Patino, health exchange coordinator for Ocean Health Initiatives, a Toms River-based health center that helps people sign up for insurance through the exchange. “That’s what I hope for our next open enrollment.”
Minneapolis-based UnitedHealthcare previously sold insurance in New Jersey, but not on the exchange, the marketplace set up by the federal Affordable Care Act for consumers who aren’t insured through employer plans.
New Jersey is one of 36 states nationwide that opted to use a federal exchange, which can be accessed at healthcare.gov, instead of their own. A report released last week found New Jerseyans buying insurance on the exchange paid an average of $465 a month if they did not qualify for tax credits and $148 a month if they did. By comparison, the average premium for all states using the federal exchange was $346, or $82 after tax credits.
Observers said that reflects New Jersey’s high cost of living, but also wondered if the lack of competition played a part. Just three insurers — AmeriHealth NJ, Health Republic of New Jersey and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey — sold plans on New Jersey’s exchange last year.
By comparison, 16 insurers in New York sold plans on its exchange. There was little difference in average prices between the two states. But New Yorkers had far more choices, and the prices of the insurance companies’ policies varied widely.
UnitedHealthcare still needs approval from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which operates the federal exchange, to sell policies on the New Jersey marketplace.
Date: June 24, 2014