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Two weeks before the federal Health Insurance Marketplace opens for enrollment, a major national company is withdrawing its Florida plans from the exchange. Cigna Inc. of Hartford, CT, told some Florida insurance brokers of the decision on Thursday through an email and said customers will be notified through regular mail starting this week. It blamed soaring costs in its Florida plans on fraud and abuse in “out-of-network substance abuse clinics and labs.” (Gentry, 10/16)

Pennsylvania state regulators say the cost of health insurance premiums will rise for most Pennsylvanians next year who buy individual plans, in some cases steeply. The Department of Insurance said Thursday that it has approved rates for 18 individual health insurance plans offered in Pennsylvania. Premiums in six plans offered by Pittsburgh-based Highmark, Wilkes-Barre-based Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania and Danville-based Geisinger will rise by more than 20 percent. (10/15)

Connecticut’s health insurance exchange released an analysis Thursday suggesting that the state’s uninsured rate this year is 3.8 percent, significantly lower than the 6.9 percent the U.S. Census Bureau recently reported for last year. While state and exchange officials praised the results and said they showed Connecticut has one of the lowest uninsured rates in the country, the estimated uninsured rate comes with some caveats. (Levin Becker, 10/15)

Community Health Alliance will no longer offer insurance coverage next year, forcing about 27,000 enrollees to find new health insurance plans. The Knoxville-based health insurance cooperative, created under the Affordable Care Act, will continue to pay out existing claims but will wind down its coverage by not taking on new customers. The decision was based on the co-op’s financial condition, according to the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, and ends months of uncertainty about its future. The alliance had stopped selling its plans on the federal exchange in January after its low-cost plans attracted more enrollees than expected, and their ability to handle the high volume came into question. (McGee, 10/14)

A nonprofit Tennessee health insurer founded with $73 million in loans provided by the Affordable Care Act won't offer insurance next year. Community Health Alliance, which began providing health coverage in 2014, is voluntarily winding down and won't offer coverage in 2016, the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance announced Wednesday. The Knoxville-based insurer is among co-ops serving at least five other states that are also winding down service. (McKenzie, 10/14)