BOZEMAN — Montana’s insurance commissioner chided two companies for raising rates on health insurance policies offered under the Affordable Care Act after federal subsidies ended, despite earlier telling them they could modify their rates if circumstances changed.
President Donald Trump ended the federal Cost-Sharing Reduction payments in mid-October, leading PacificSource and the Montana Health Care Co-op to increase their marketplace rates for 2018.
Matt Rosendale said he was “extremely disheartened” that the companies increased their rates. However, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports that in August Rosendale wrote to the companies to say his office was aware of the uncertainty surrounding the Affordable Care Act and he would work with them if they needed to modify their rates.
Rosendale spokesman Kyle Schmauch said that “saying you will work with someone and being disappointed in their decisions are not mutually exclusive.”