Several thousand Iowans who lost health care coverage when their carrier left the 2018 health insurance market may still be eligible to purchase a plan from Medica on the ACA marketplace before the March 1 special enrollment deadline, the Iowa Insurance Division announced today. “We believe that there are several thousand Iowans who may have lost coverage due to the departure of Aetna, Wellmark or Gundersen Health Plan from the ACA individual market,” Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen said in a statement. Ommen said the Iowa Insurance Division had anticipated approximately 20,000 people would leave the ACA individual health market this year due to skyrocketing costs that have priced out those not eligible for federal subsidies, and it appears even more have left than anticipated. As of Feb. 13, 46,563 Iowans had coverage under ACA-compliant policies. The majority of those people, 41,742, are receiving federal subsidies. “In Iowa, we expect that roughly 80 percent of the total premiums paid in 2018 to be paid by federal subsidy dollars,” Ommen said. “I continue to call on Congress to fix this federal problem.”