Connecticut’s health care exchange will once again have two insurers offering plans next year, a welcome relief for Access Health Connecticut, which has been on shifting sands since the election of Donald Trump as president. 

Both ConnectiCare and Anthem announced Wednesday that they have signed up to return. The exchange serves about 100,000 people in the state.

Both companies had to consider their options with the White House threatening to remove cost-sharing subsidies that support the participation of low-income residents on the exchanges.

Exchange CEO Jim Wadleigh said that’s meant a lot of uncertainty in an industry that looks for clarity.

“Both carriers have been questioning their participation, not so much because they don’t want to be in the business, but more, in order for them to be in the business they need to know how to price their products,” he told WNPR.

Connecticut’s insurance department asked the companies to submit two rate cases this summer. The point was to show what they’d each charge with and without the subsidies in place.

Exactly what that will mean will become clearer by next month as the plan designs and pricing are submitted to the exchange, Wadleigh said. But it looks likely that customers will be facing double digit rate increases next year.

Open enrollment on the exchange begins in November. In Connecticut it will run until December 22, one week longer than the abbreviated federal enrollment period.

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