The ACA void has been filled in MO

With a large part of MO at risk of having no insurer next year, Centene decides to sell Obamacare plans in MO. Read more here.
The effects of concentration within the Health Care Market cannot be overstated. Join @SLU_HealthLaw this Friday!
http://law.slu.edu/HLsymposium2017
This is the second consecutive year that federal officials extended the deadline for consumers to sign up for coverage through Affordable Care Act marketplaces. By the start of this week, about 4 million people had chosen ACA plans. Obama administration officials estimated that more than 11 million will be covered through ACA in 2017.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/2016/12/15/6b949e9a-c339-11e6-9a51-cd56ea1c2bb7_story.html?utm_term=.b15768b4ab41
Bad news for consumers. Anthem-Cigna merger hearing has been post-poned by the MO Dept of Insurance. A Missouri hearing would have given the department the opportunity to look into how the merger would affect MO consumers before it goes to a federal judge.
The department held a similar hearing for the merger between Aetna and Humana and ruled against this merger. A similar decision would have been important for the federal judge to know before ruling.
http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/missouri-department-of-insurance-postpones-anthem-cigna-hearing/article_efd3bbd5-f3f5-5df0-b894-fae728099bdf.html
Today marked the first day of the federal trial over the proposed Anthem-Cigna merger which would create the nation’s largest health insurance company. Government antitrust lawyers are attempting to block this $48 billion deal which threatens to reshape the U.S. market for health coverage.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/11/21/antitrust-trial-over-aetna-cigna-merger-begins/94222422/
The U.S. Department of Justice is challenging what it says is the largest merger in the history of the health insurance industry. On Monday, the Justice Department will begin arguing its case against Anthemâs $54 billion acquisition of Cigna Corp.
This merger would be particularly painful for St. Louis area consumers where these two insurers have a significant portion of the market share.
http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/consumers-should-pay-attention-to-insurance-antitrust-case/article_5a24485f-b821-5d4f-969b-904c1ecd1867.html#utm_source=stltoday.com&utm_campaign=BusinessNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=1DBDAE0183C0B49F9CB94AD3EE8564A5EF7394FF
The Affordable Care Act made health insurance accessible for millions of Americans. But rising rates, a lack of transparency in policy changes and little oversight in the process puts the entire system at risk.
Rates in MO are rising by alarming rates and the data behind these rates hikes are questionable.
http://acasignups.net/16/06/01/2017-rate-request-early-look-missouri