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How New York's biggest Obamacare health insurer went broke
Syracuse.com ^ | November 5, 2015 | By James T. Mulder

Posted on 11/17/2015 2:18:10 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Health Republic of New York made a big splash when it debuted in 2014 with rock-bottom health insurance prices that undercut its competitors across the state.

Its premium rates were 30 percent below average in Onondaga County. The new company, backed with $265 million in federal loans, quickly captured the biggest share of new business on the state's health insurance exchange created by the federal Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Now Health Republic is going broke because of those low prices, forcing its 200,000 members – including 4,060 in Central New York – to get their health coverage from other insurers, experts say. State and federal regulators recently ordered the insurer to stop writing new policies and shut down its business because it's on the brink of insolvency. And it's not clear if the federal loans will ever be repaid.

The federal government provided $2 billion in loans to create 23 co-ops, Health Republic being the largest. Many Democrats in Congress supported the idea. But Republicans questioned the wisdom of spending federal money to start new health plans to compete against well-established health insurers and predicted taxpayers would lose a bundle on the co-op program.

As year two of Obamacare comes to a close, Health Republic and eight other co-ops have failed, and experts say more co-op failures may be in the offing. The nine co-ops insure about 500,000 people in nine states, less than 5 percent of Americans enrolled in private Obamacare plans. . .

(Excerpt) Read more at syracuse.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: abortion; deathpanels; newyork; ny; obamacare; plannedparenthood; stemexpress; zerocare

1 posted on 11/17/2015 2:18:10 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee
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To: Brad from Tennessee

It will be so so interesting to see which execs get what at the end of the day...corruption from the start.


2 posted on 11/17/2015 2:20:58 PM PST by Shady (We are at war again......this time for our lives...)
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To: Brad from Tennessee

Is it really that much of a mystery? Adding freeloaders to the system without adding young, income-earning healthy payors = bankruptcy.


3 posted on 11/17/2015 2:23:13 PM PST by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
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To: Brad from Tennessee

It’s what happens when you spend more money than you take in. Difficult as that concept is for liberals to understand.


4 posted on 11/17/2015 2:27:53 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Brad from Tennessee

I want Obama to fail.

I want everything he has ever proposed, or implemented to fail.

Then maybe, never again will we elect an outright socialist as President.


5 posted on 11/17/2015 2:29:16 PM PST by Signalman
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To: Brad from Tennessee

NY is in a long line of Grubers.


6 posted on 11/17/2015 2:29:17 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.)
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To: Shady

[It will be so so interesting to see which execs get what at the end of the day...corruption from the start.]

These ObamaCare co-ops were billed as vehicles to increase competition and lower premium rates. But from their inception they were designed to fail as Democrat cronies skimmed millions from them. It’s the same “bust-out” scam as Solyndra and other federally funded “green” tech companies. I’m hoping the FBI does an audit.


7 posted on 11/17/2015 2:30:29 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
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To: Brad from Tennessee
The new company, backed with $265 million in federal loans,

So, they basically stole more than a quarter of a billion dollars from the taxpeasants.

8 posted on 11/17/2015 2:31:02 PM PST by kiryandil (Maya: "Liberalism Is What Smart Looks Like to Stupid People")
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To: Brad from Tennessee

But... but... but... the taxpayers in other states were supposed to bail them out.


9 posted on 11/17/2015 2:34:18 PM PST by PAR35
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To: Cicero
It’s what happens when you spend more money than you take in. Difficult as that concept is for liberals to understand.

They're probably also struggling with the concept that the people they were planning on taking it in from could actually choose not to.

10 posted on 11/17/2015 2:37:28 PM PST by tacticalogic ("Oh bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: PAR35

So these are state schemes to suck money from the taxpayers at the federal level, into state coffers that are already bankrupt.

That’s the ticket.
Punish the states that are in the black.


11 posted on 11/17/2015 2:50:03 PM PST by George from New England (escaped CT in 2006, now living north of Tampa)
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To: Brad from Tennessee

Bump


12 posted on 11/17/2015 2:53:44 PM PST by lowbridge
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To: Signalman

AND, I want him in prison for the rest of his life.


13 posted on 11/17/2015 4:16:29 PM PST by Gator113 (~~Cruz, OR LOSE~~ Ted Cruz REMAINS the only true Conservative in this race. ~~ just livin' life~~)
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To: Opinionated Blowhard
Is it really that much of a mystery? Adding freeloaders to the system without adding young, income-earning healthy payors = bankruptcy.

What's interesting is that this was a low price provider, meaning if youngsters were going to flock to a plan, it would be this one. And yet it's clear that they did not migrate to this plan at a ratio sufficient to cover the cost of older customers.

14 posted on 11/17/2015 5:04:06 PM PST by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: kiryandil
they basically stole more than a quarter of a billion dollars from the taxpeasants.

"Taxpeasants!!! LOL.

Never heard that before; but it's a winner. And sadly, it's how the totalitarian elitists in DC view us.

15 posted on 11/20/2015 5:50:23 PM PST by ChicagahAl (Today's Democrats are much more Fascist than Communist; but Sen Joe McCarthy was still right.)
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To: Cicero
Difficult as that concept is for liberals to understand.

The Liberal Cronies understand it. It simply doesn't apply to them.

If they wish to keep a "graft and corruption" company going, they can just throw more taxpayer funds at it. If they have skimmed enough to satisfy themselves, they can just shut it down; no harm, no foul to them.

16 posted on 11/20/2015 5:54:26 PM PST by ChicagahAl (Today's Democrats are much more Fascist than Communist; but Sen Joe McCarthy was still right.)
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