Anthem, Aetna Exit Obamacare Exchanges

Hotair ^ | 08/03/2017 | John Sexton

[SeekAndFind]

With the September deadline for insurers to decide whether they are in or out of the Obamacare exchanges fast approaching, some insurers are opting to get out now. Aetna announced it was getting out of the Obamacare business in May. Today, the company announced it was leaving the one exchange where it had considered staying because of a Medicaid contract. From the Washington Examiner:

The company said during an earnings call that it was withdrawing from the exchange in Nevada, the last state it had considered staying in. Aetna was leaving the possibility open because it was applying for a Medicaid managed care contract, and the state gives extra consideration to insurers that participate in both programs.

During its second-quarter earnings call on Thursday, however, Aetna said it was not moving forward with the recently awarded contract and would be leaving the exchange as well.

Aetna’s decision to pull back from Obacare appears to be paying off. From Reuters:

Aetna Inc reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday as member health costs were lower than anticipated and it benefited from exiting most of its Obamacare individual insurance markets this year.

That’s in stark contrast to Molina Healthcare which announced a $230 million loss yesterday. Molina, once considered one of Obamacare’s few success stories, is pulling out of two more states and still considering its participation in remaining states. In states where Molina does decide to remain on the exchange, it will be requesting a 55% premium increase.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, Anthem announced it was pulling out of most areas of the California exchange. From the LA Times:

Next year, about 10% of people enrolled through the exchange will have to look for a new plan because Anthem Blue Cross will end its coverage in most of the state.

State officials said Tuesday that Anthem will continue providing coverage only in Santa Clara County and parts of Northern California and the Central Valley…

According to Covered California’s most recent enrollment snapshot from March, Anthem currently covers about 252,560 Obamacare customers, 61% of whom live in regions where the carrier will pull out of the market.

That means 39,340 people in Los Angeles County, 19,490 in Orange County and 4,340 in San Diego County will be forced to find other options during open enrollment this fall.

So far, there are no areas without coverage options in California. In fact, most people will still have three carriers to choose from. But there’s still more than a month to go before insurers have to make a final decision about participation next year. We could still see more insurers looking over the landscape and deciding they’d rather follow Aetna’s path than Molina’s path.

[mewzilla]

Not pursuing the Medicaid contract? Wow!

[dfwgator]

Single-Payer here we come.

[mewzilla]

If the insurance companies think they can beat Trump at a game of chicken, they need their heads examined.

[dfwgator]

At this point, you have a lot more faith in Trump than I do. Trump can’t even get his own house in order.

[I want the USA back]

This will be blamed on Trump.

[mewzilla]

I’m clutching onto my mustard seed with all I’ve got. :-)

[dhs12345]

For not bailing out the insurance companies?

I think that the republicans will get the blame... and if they are smart the democrats... as in Obama...care.

Trump and the republicans should play this one aggressively.

Democrats sat back and watched (and are watching) the Godzilla that they created destroy the city while the republicans are running around in circles and getting squashed one by one under the big green foot.

[mewzilla]

They can try. But they’ll need to defend insurance company bailouts at the same time.

[dfwgator]

The MSM will always spin whatever happens in favor of the Rats.

[mewzilla]

Have you seen the ratings and circulation figs for the enemedia? I’m not worried about them. You can only blow smoke up people’s behinds for so long.

[steve86]

I am with Molina, WOW

[Yosemitest]

Only idiots and the evil voted for Obama, or ANY of the Democrats.
AND NOW, WE CAN ADD "Establishment Republicans" TO THAT LIST, ALSO!
They've lied to us, constantly, and really are "Collapsing the System".
And now, these "Useful IDIOTS" who voted for them, are buying the LIES that "Obamacare was designed to work." ?
It was designed to fail from the start.
THEN ... THEY GO TO THE "SINGLE-PAYER SYSTEM".

Flashback: Obama's Campaign to Transition to Single Payer Health Care (VIDEO)


obama master plan on health careover the years in his own words--SINGLE PAYER!!! ( 3:38 )

They've been sucking our wallets dry for over four years now on the "Obamacare" LIE.
AND NOW THEY WANT MORE TAXES ?
Our Founding Fathers would have hung them already!

Lets review:

Who was it that cut future funding for Medicare by $575 billion?

...the president and the Democratic Party successfully bamboozle voters... The 2012 election could turn on this falsehood.
The truth is that the Obama health law reduces future funding for Medicare by $575 billion over the next 10 years ...

Mr. Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius frequently make that false claim.
Indeed, even Medicare's mailings to seniors repeat the claim
that reducing spending on Medicare will make it more financially secure for future years.
The fact is that Mr. Obama's law raids Medicare.

"In early 1968 President Lyndon Johnson [DEMOCRAT] made a change in the budget presentation by including Social Security and all other trust funds in a"unified budget." "

Who was it that expanded Medicare and Medicaid to cover many, many more people than it was originally designed to cover?

The History of Medicare

In 1965, the Social Security Act established both Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare was a responsibility of the Social Security Administration (SSA), while Federal assistance to the State Medicaid programs was administered by the Social and Rehabilitation Service (SRS). SSA and SRS were agencies in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW). In 1977, the Health Care Financing Administration was created under HEW to effectively coordinate Medicare and Medicaid. In 1980 HEW was divided into the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The first U.S. President to propose a prepaid health insurance plan was Harry S. Truman [DEMOCRAT]. On November 19, 1945, in a special message to Congress, President Truman outlined a comprehensive, prepaid medical insurance plan for all people through the Social Security system. The plan included doctors and hospitals, and nursing, laboratory, and dental services; it was dubbed "National Health Insurance." Furthermore, medical insurance benefits for needy people were to be financed from Federal revenues.

Over the years, lawmakers narrowed the field of health insurance recipients largely to social security beneficiaries. A national survey found that only 56 percent of those 65 years of age or older had health insurance. President John F. Kennedy [DEMOCRAT] pressed legislators for health insurance for the aged. However, it wasn't until 1965 that President Lyndon B. Johnson signed H.R. 6675 (The Social Security Act of 1965; PL 89-97) to provide health insurance for the elderly and the poor.

On July 30, 1965, President Johnson signed the Medicare and Medicaid Bill (Title XVIII and Title XIX of the Social Security Act) in Independence, Missouri in the presence of former President Truman, who received the first Medicare card at the ceremony; Lady Bird Johnson, Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, and Mrs. Truman also were present. President Johnson remarked: "We marvel not simply at the passage of this Bill but that it took so many years to pass it."

Medicare extended health coverage to almost all Americans aged 65 or older. About 19 million beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare in the first year of the program. Medicaid provided access to health care services for certain low-income persons and expanded the existing Federal-State welfare structure that assisted the poor.

The 1972 Social Security Amendments expanded Medicare to provide coverage to two additional high risk groups disabled persons receiving cash benefits for 24 months under the social security program and persons suffering from end-stage renal disease.

...(continued at link)

So Democrats,

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE
FOR INSURING THE FAILURE
OF THE MEDICARE/MEDICAID PROGRAM,
and now YOU DEMOCRATS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE INTENTIONAL DESTRUCTION OF THE U.S.A. ECONOMY!!!

So DEMOCRATS ... SHUT UP!!!

You have no integrity!!!

And you "ESTABLISHMENT REPUBLICANS" ...
You need to SHUT UP ALSO,
because y'all funded everything they asked for !

Sen Mark Kirk's statement Thursday, Dec 1, 2011 ...

"There are 55 million Social Security beneficiaries that will see little or no extra cash from this 2012 tax holiday;
instead, the dedicated payroll contributions meant to pay for future benefits are being diverted from the Trust Fund
and replaced with Treasury debt that does not even have a AAA credit rating.
Social Security was designed to be independent and free from the danger of Congressional manipulation,
and maintaining the firewall between the Social Security Trust Fund and general government funding is the best way to maintain the solvency of this important program.
Neither bill protects the Social Security Trust Fund
so I voted no. "

It's not our fault that DEMOCRATS raided the Social Security Trust Fund.
Let's remember ...

Not ALL are to blame for the empty lock box.

It's the Democrats Communists.

Let's take a deeper look.

Obama: "I Don't Want the Folks who Created the Mess to do a lot of Talking" "

Okay, then the DEMOCRATS, AND the "ESTABLISHMENT REPUBLICANS",
need to SHUT UP ! ! !

[Jim Noble]

Not pursuing the Medicaid Contract? Wow!

It depends.

We looked at a Medicaid contract some years ago. The requirements (apart from taking care of the patents) were so amazingly onerous - one I remember was that the on-call doctor had to log all calls with a narrative and submit the logs weekly to the State for review - we decided we couldn't take the losses if we won the contract.

[mewzilla]

Wow. Wonder if that’s the case in every state....

[TheNext]

Yep, Govt healthcare laws are just a jobs program for deep state Govt workers, paper pushing. The patient is harmed because deep state Govt are NOT Doctors nor Nurses.

LMAO

SINGLE PAYER DEATH PANELS is a Govt jobs program for state workers.

[USNBandit]

That isn’t what they said. They said they were opting out of Obamacare despite the state giving a preference to companies that participate in both. What that means is that they are more afraid of Obamacare losses than possible lost revenue from not getting the Medicaid contract.

[Caipirabob]

Crushing the insurance cabal would be a huge achievement. Let them wither and die.

[grania]

I don’t care who gets the blame. Obscene profits are being made in pharmaceutical, caregiver, medical, and insurance companies. The insurance companies will pull out because the plans always involved huge government payouts to subsidize them. If the gov is subsidizing them, isn’t that single-payer with fascism added to the mix? We need to demand of ALL politicians that they start talking about those costs and to divulge anyone that profits from ObamaCare or expanded Medicare who contributes to their campaigns.

[grania]

Re: The political parties. We’re seeing them for what they really are, now that there’s an outsider in the WH. Both parties are criminal organizations.