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The three insurance carriers selling individual policies in most of the state have said they likely will pull out for 2018, because of financial losses and uncertain risks. As things stand now, the companies have until June 19 to file proposed rates if they plan to sell such insurance here for 2018. Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen expressed optimism this past week that he could work out a last-minute agreement with federal officials to offer incentives that would keep two of the three carriers — Medica and Wellmark Blue Cross & Blue Shield — in the market. Everyone recognizes the stakes, including for young entrepreneurs, he said. “We know it is an emergency, and we will deliver,” Ommen told independent insurance brokers in a Des Moines meeting Thursday. “…We are trying to thread the needle.” (Leys, 6/10)

Two rural Washington counties have been thrust into the national health-care debate after new rate filings revealed that no insurers planned to offer coverage next year in the individual markets in Klickitat and Grays Harbor counties. Democratic elected officials pounced, blaming the insurer pullout on uncertainty caused by Republican plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler issued a news release Thursday saying the pullout affecting an estimated 3,350 people “clearly indicates to me that the uncertainty the Trump administration and the GOP-controlled Congress has sowed for months is sabotaging the progress we’ve made.” (Young, 6/9)

Florida Blue plans to stay in the health insurance marketplace in 2018, though the future of Obamacare and its subsidies are still unclear, officials told the Orlando Sentinel on Friday. ... [Tony Jenkins, market president for Florida Blue’s Central Florida Region] said he couldn’t disclose the 2018 rates until they are submitted to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation later this month and then made public by the agency. (Miller, 6/9)