(Continued from page 26)

the mandatory benefits required under the Affordable Care Act.
• Wellmark said customers will still have the ability to switch to ACA-compliant plans Jan. 1 depending on which option suits them best. Some of the notable differences include mental health and maternity benefits that are not currently covered but will cost more.
• "We are rewarding our valued members with today's announcements," Wellmark Chairman and CEO John Forsyth said in a statement. "As a mutual company, Wellmark is owned by its policyholders and these decisions are designed to provide them with maximum flexibility and choice while minimizing their increase in cost. The extension provides additional time to become more informed about what the changes in the market mean without losing the current coverage they know and trust."
• The chief executive officer of one new Wellmark rival, Des Moines-based CoOportunity Health, questioned whether Wellmark's moves were designed to undermine the implementation of Iowa's new health exchange. Starting Oct. 1, customers will be able to shop for coverage through Iowa's exchange and qualify for subsidies and benefits required under the federal health care law.
• Wellmark's decisions could discourage some customers from looking for new plans while sending a potentially less healthy applicant pool to the exchange than anticipated, which could drive up costs for insurers who participate, CEO David Lyons said.
• Wellmark said it would announce in early July whether it will participate in Iowa's exchange and was still evaluating its options, rejecting the idea that it was trying to undermine the program.
• Still, Lyons said Wellmark's decision to lower its rate hikes was a dramatic example of the new competition that the health law had unleashed.
• "I think anything that generates additional value for consumers is good," he said. "I just hope it doesn't create an environment where the competitive pressures that are creating this opportunity today won't be around to ensure it continues in the future."
•

• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- An Iowa man convicted of commercial sex trafficking in South Dakota has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.
• Fifty-nine-year-old Ronald Bonestroo, of Hull, Iowa, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier -- the same judge who last year overturned his conviction. Her decision later was reversed by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

(Continued on page 28)