(Bloomberg) — Anthem Inc. said it may pull back from morestate Obamacare markets even as U.S. lawmakers debate steps toshore up the health law.

The health insurer is in talks with officials in some statesahead of deadlines later this month to decide whether to sellcoverage in 2018, Chief Executive Officer Joseph Swedish said onTuesday. The company has announced partial or full withdrawals fromnine of the 14 states where it offered Obamacare plans thisyear.

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“There are still some remaining states that we are innegotiation with, both the regulators as well as the legislativearena, to position ourselves appropriately,” Swedish told investorsat the Morgan Stanley Global Healthcare Conference in New York.“There are due dates that are still in play with respect to beingable to make an announcement, so we’re going to reserve any furtherstatement about whether we’re in our out of various states untilthose due dates pass.”

The insurer is considering its plans for next year as senators weigh making changes to theAffordable Care Act, with some seeking small fixes to the law whileothers push for more far-reaching alterations. Efforts to repealand replace Obamacare failed over the summer.

Anthem had about 1.5 million customers in Obamacare-complianthealth plans as of June 30, including about 1 million who signed upthrough the health law’s exchanges.

Swedish didn’t say specifically which states Anthem mightretreat from.

Of the five states where Anthem hasn’t said it plans to pullback, the insurer has said it will continue to sell Obamacarecoverage in three -- Colorado, New Hampshire and New York.

In two other states, the picture is unclear. The companypreviously told regulators in Maine it would quit that state’sexchange if subsidies for low-income consumers aren’t funded. InConnecticut, insurers have until Sept. 15 to decide whether toparticipate.

Erin Weinstein, director of legislative affairs at Connecticut’sinsurance regulator, referred to the state’s Sept. 15 deadline anddidn’t answer questions about Anthem. Maine didn’t immediatelyrespond to a request for comment.

Health hearings
In Washington, senators are holding two hearings on Tuesday aboutchanging the Affordable Care Act.

Tennessee Republican Senator Lamar Alexander, who heads a healthcommittee, has said he wants a small package of bipartisan fixesbefore insurers like Anthem lock in their 2018 plans this month.Utah Republican Orrin Hatch, who leads the Senate FinanceCommittee, has been skeptical of providing money for insurerswithout making more changes to the law.

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“I am concerned that many of the proposals for a bipartisansolution would amount to little more than a bailout of the currentsystem,” Hatch said on Tuesday. “An Obamacare bailout that is notaccompanied by real reforms would be inadvisable.”

He suggested a bipartisan solution should also at least delayObamacare taxes on health insurers, medical-device companies andhigh-cost health plans, as well as repeal a panel that is supposedto make cuts to government health spending if costs reach a certainlevel.

A key question for health insurers is whether lawmakers willexplicitly provide funding for the law’s cost-sharing reductions,which help insurers lower out-of-pocket costs for low-incomeconsumers. Insurers have said that if there’s doubt about whetherthose payments will be made, premiums could climb 15 percent to 20percent next year.

Alexander has said his bill would fund the payments and providemore flexibility to states.

Complicating the effort to stabilize Obamacare, RepublicanSenators Bill Cassidy and Lindsey Graham, of Louisiana and SouthCarolina, respectively, are pushing their proposal to repeal andreplace the health law. They’ve said they plan to provide text oftheir proposal on Wednesday.

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