(Bloomberg) -- UnitedHealth Group is exiting New Jersey’s Obamacare exchange, marking the 27th state market the insurer is quitting.

UnitedHealth’s Oxford Health Plans unit won’t participate in New Jersey’s individual market in 2017, on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act exchange or elsewhere, according to a letter obtained by Bloomberg through an open-records request.

Another unit will continue selling plans outside of PPACA, and the company will keep offering coverage to small businesses, according to Marshall McKnight, a spokesman for New Jersey’s Department of Banking & Insurance.

Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hemsley said last month that UnitedHealth would only offer PPACA plans in a “handful of states” for 2017, though the company hasn’t listed them. The company is retreating from the markets created by PPACA amid mounting losses on the policies. Bloomberg has confirmed that the insurer is exiting at least 27 of the 34 states where it sold 2016 coverage.

The company will still probably sell PPACA plans in at least three states next year: New York and Nevada have confirmed UnitedHealth’s participation and the company has filed plans to participate in Virginia.

In addition to UnitedHealth, several other insurers offered plans in New Jersey last year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. They include Oscar Insurance Corp., AmeriHealth, Health Republic Insurance of New Jersey, and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Instant Insights /

UnitedHealth quits 27th PPACA state as insurer exits NJ in 2017

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