Health insurer Anthem to leave Wisconsin, Indiana markets

June 22 (UPI) -- Health insurer Anthem Inc. will effectively leave Affordable Care Act markets in Wisconsin and Indiana in 2018, it announced.

It said on June 6 that it would pull out of Ohio, and Wednesday cited similar circumstances in Wisconsin and Indiana, blaming "volatile" market conditions and "uncertainty" in the federal government's position on changes the ACA.

President Donald Trump's administration has expressed plans to repeal and replace the AHA, also referred to as Obamacare. Anthem has expressed concerns that subsidy payments from the government to low-income Obamacare customers, amounting to billions of dollars, will be discontinued. Legislation to change key sections of the AHA could result in millions of people ending their enrollment in individual health plans like those sold by Anthem, CNBC said.

The administration and Congress also have not offered a long-term assurance that insurers will be offered cost-sharing reimbursements; without them, insurers would increase premium prices.

Anthem said Wednesday it would offer one health plan in a single Wisconsin county, and one in five Indiana counties, to avoid a five-year ban on re-entering the market imposed on insurers that completely exit a state's marketplace.

Shares of Anthem stock remained relatively unchanged, at around $192 per share, in trading on Wednesday.