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UnitedHealthcare will expand its footprint on the Affordable Care Act's exchanges to seven more states for 2022, bring its total footprint to 18 states. UHC plans will now be available on the marketplace in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan and Texas. Open enrollment for the ACA's exchanges begins Nov. 1 and is set to close Jan. 15, 2022. (Minemyer, 10/28)

A new Maryland subsidy will make health insurance more affordable for young adults ages 18 to 34.Local officials and state lawmakers gathered on Thursday to highlight the new subsidy as Maryland’s open enrollment period begins Monday for the state’s health exchange. Legislation enacted by the Maryland General Assembly allocates $20 million a year for two years to bring down the cost of health insurance for people ages 18-34 with low and moderate incomes. (10/28)

Insurer UnitedHealthcare and Montefiore Health System have reached an agreement after a contract dispute, restoring access to health plan members, they announced Thursday morning. Some 60,000 people with UnitedHealthcare and Oxford employer-sponsored health plans, as well as those on the Minnesota-based insurer’s Medicare dual special-needs plan, had lost access to the Bronx health provider's facilities in December. UnitedHealthcare and Montefiore had failed to agree over proposed increased rates. Plan members will have access restored effective Dec. 1. (Sim, 10/28)

The virus has left a trail of destruction in its wake. Many were felt on a personal level. But industries were thrown upside down without warning as well, including life insurance. The morbid reality is that a lot of life insurance policies suddenly had to be paid out in the past year due to the more-than-expected number of deaths in the U.S. Death benefits paid in 2020 jumped to $87.5 billion, up 15% from 2019, the largest increase in at least 24 years, according to data from the Insurance Information Institute. Estimates for 2021 aren’t out yet. But the total will rise since this year has been deadlier for COVID-19 than last year. On Oct. 6, the U.S. hit 353,000 COVID deaths for 2021, topping the 2020 total of 352,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. (Walters, 10/28)