Anthem Health Plans has filed to re-enter the health insurance marketplace in Virginia after bailing out of the Commonwealth last year.
The announcement comes as a relief for many people living in the Charlottesville area, who are paying sky-high premiums with no alternatives.
Ian Dixon, a local health care advocate, says when Anthem pulled out, it turned the marketplace into a monopoly leaving Optima Health as the sole insurance provider in the federal marketplace and tripling health insurance rates in some cases –
“A family that was paying $1,000 dollars per month in premiums is now paying $3,000 dollars.”
The Bureau of Insurance will vote on officially allowing Anthem back into the marketplace.