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Open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act began Tuesday after months of changes to the state exchange, including the loss of one provider and rate hikes from the other two.

The first adjustment arrived in May when United Health Care, which was the only provider offering coverage in all 82 counties, pulled out of the exchange in Mississippi and 30 other states.

A second provider, Humana, dropped from offering coverage in 46 counties in 2016, to covering 32 in 2017. They also increased premiums by an average of 43 percent in the state.

In September, Magnolia/Ambetter announced that they would be expanding their coverage for 2017, from 52 to all 82 Mississippi counties. Magnolia/Ambetter raised premiums, too, by an average of 7 percent.

Last year 108,672 Mississippians signed up for coverage during the open enrollment period.

Open enrollment for 2017 runs from Nov. 1 through Jan. 31.


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Larrison Campbell is a Greenville native who reports on politics with an emphasis on public health. She received a bachelor’s from Wesleyan University and a master’s from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.Larrison is a 2018 National Press Foundation fellow in public health, a 2019 Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Massachusetts fellow in health care reporting and a 2019 Center for Health Journalism National Fellow.