Alaska, Alabama, Kansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wyoming, will have only one carrier per region.
As major insurers UnitedHealth, Humana and Aetna — along with smaller insurers like the Scott & White Health Plan in Texas — plan to leave theObamacare insurance markets, the exodus will leave some states without much competition on the exchanges.
A new study by Avalere predicts one-third of the country will have no exchange plan competition in 2017. Seven states: Alaska, Alabama, Kansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wyoming, will have only one carrier per rating region in every region in the state, the Avalere study said.
States divide up their exchange market region into rating areas. Consumers may only purchase plans offered within the rating region in which they reside.
Nearly 55 percent of exchange market rating regions have two or fewer carriers, the Avalere study said.
HENRY KOTULA 