Posted on 04/19/2016 12:34:22 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The nation’s largest insurer announced Tuesday it will be dropping out of the Obamacare exchanges in all but a handful of states. The decision comes after the company lost nearly half-a-billion dollars on the exchange business last year and expectations it will lose even more this year. The AP reports:
UnitedHealth Group Inc. said it now expects to lose $650 million this year on its exchange business, up from its previous projection for $525 million. The insurer lost $475 million in 2015, a spokesman said.
UnitedHealth has already decided to pull out of Arkansas, Georgia and Michigan in 2017, and Hemsley told analysts during a Tuesday morning conference call that his company will not carry financial exposure from the exchanges into 2017.
“We continue to remain an advocate for more stable and sustainable approaches to serving this market,” he said.
United was selling Obamacare plans in 34 states. The exact number of state in which it will continue to sell plans, as well as which states, was not revealed Tuesday morning.
Monday the Kaiser Family Foundation released a preemptive report which suggested United’s withdrawal from the marketplace would have an impact on competition but only a minimal impact on prices. However that analysis only looked at the immediate impact on pricing and did not estimate how having less competition in many counties might impact prices going forward.
The real concern is that United is only a sign of things to come as other big insurers decide Obamacare is a money loser and either opt out or demand large annual premium increases. From the Washington Post:
Even if the effects of United leaving most exchanges could be relatively modest, other insurers have indicated concern over the exchanges. Last month, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association released a report indicating that new members who enrolled in individual plans used more medical services of all kinds and accounted for health care spending 22 percent higher than people with employer-based insurance in 2015.
At Aetna’s earnings call for the fourth quarter of 2015, Aetna chief executive Mark Bertolini said the insurer was concerned about the exchanges.
“This business remained unprofitable in 2015 and we continue to have serious concerns about the sustainability of the public exchanges,” Bertolini said.
Apart from the Obamacare exchanges, United’s business is strong. The company announced better-than-expected earnings in the 1st quarter.
Remember when people like me said this would happen?
And we were laughed at, mocked, sneered at and given the finger?
Another Obamacare success story.
The President’s “signature accomplishment”.
I imagine more than a couple of liberals are getting a reality check now, since April 18 has passed.
Yes, we told you so, beforehand. Should have listened.
Obama needs to pass a law to prohibit them from pulling out.
Me and the wife didn’t get that 2500 bucks to put back in our wallet yet either. The Kenyan is a lying bastard.
Well, well, well!
Any word on how much tax money was used to backfill United’s losses this far? In other words, how much tax money has been back-channeled to United to keep them from coming to this decision sooner?
I sure didn’t.
You know what the problem is? It is all those rich doctors. That is the problem. Government can’t just tweek around the edges with insurance - they need to run the health CARE system. (Which is what it was always about anyway. The forced collapse of the insurance was just a means to an end.)
Yep. I’ll even go further. Obamacare was on the bubble until the Insurance industry and Big Pharma stepped up to support Obamacare... after they were promised the taxpayer would be on the hook for any losses.
Public Option will be back by Halloween, 2017.
Single Payer within five years after that.
They can't turn a profit , so..
now we look to the government to do it cheaper than capitalism ??
He$$s Be$$s ! , the government can't even balance its books !
Thank God commiecunt hitlary is going to continue this.
so part of the business was a loss but overall they had record profits. Can anyone find that number?
President Thompson, er, Ebola could call it Directive 10-289!
What a shock, people who are given free stuff use it more (and more carelessly) than people who have to pay for it!
I have a friend with “free” coverage - if her kids hiccup she is in there checking it out. We use Liberty Health Share so we pay for all our doctor visits. We use all other ways to get better before deciding we need a doctor, because it costs us money. (But once we spend X amount for the year, everything else is covered 100% from ANY MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL).
This economic model is Soooooooo easy to explain.
Supposing your govt gave you a card that allowed you to get filet mignon for free. Well, why ever have chicken for dinner? Make filet every night! Eventually your store can’t afford these free giveaways, even if the govt gives them some token coins each time. It goes to China and gets this meat that is “labeled” filet (it’s probably chunks cut from prisoners’ sawed off limbs) and sells that. Not so much fun to buy, but, hey, it’s free.
You want another one? Tesla is forced to give away free cars to those who have government exchange cards. Sure, the first few guys get great new models. But Tesla can’t afford this for long! So they start putting together a Model FR for the free exchanges. It’s mostly made with tin, aluminum, and gorilla glue. But hey, it’s a free tesla, so people still get them... For a while....
In California as of Jan, doctors who choose to treat medi-Cal patients only get $20 reimbursed per office visit. That is not sustainable. A plumber makes $75 just for showing up. So doctors don’t take medi-cal patients because they need food on the table at their homes! So then the medi-cal patients ( ONE THIRD OF THE STATE POPULATION!!!) have no medical care except in the ER for free. Which was why Obama started this whole thing. Because poor [illegal] patients were forced to use the ER for basic services. WHICH NOW THEY HAVE TO AGAIN.
I’m still waiting to see my healthcare costs go down as well!
another ObammyCare success story.. how many more can WE stand?
Obama and his gang of close Socialist/Marxist/Muslim friends have with malice and forethought put this nation deep into red debt while enriching themselves. They HATE America because they can't live up to her Greatness....for starters.
It’s called “Marxism”.
Karl Marx HATED the middle class.
He wanted them DEAD.
He wanted their blood FLOWING in the streets.
You can NOT use Marx’s ideas to help the middle class - even if you call it “Democrat Socialism”.
But middle class Marxists all over the nation keep voting for it.
There’s a reason Bernie Sanders is smiling in every picture. The people he’s coming for can’t wait to vote for him.
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