UnitedHealth Group May Leave Obamacare Exchanges By 2017

[zenkai]

Source

UnitedHealth Group UNH -5.84%, in a surprising announcement, said this morning it has revised its profit expectations for the rest of the year due to what it called a “deterioration” of its individual commercial insurance offerings on government-run exchanges under the Affordable Care Act and offered no commitment it would stay in the business beyond next year.

The nation’s largest health insurer said it was “evaluating the viability of the insurance exchange product segment,” pulling back on its marketing efforts for individual exchange products for next year and “will determine during the first half of 2016 to what extent it can continue to serve the public exchange markets in 2017.” The insurer sells individual plans on public exchanges in 24 states and covers more than a half million Americans in these plans.

UnitedHealth had been among the more cautious in offering coverage to individuals on the exchanges, entering only a handful of markets in 2014, the first year such coverage became available. The company expanded for this year and only recently said it would expand its offerings in nearly a dozen more states for 2016. But this morning, it said the business has deteriorated and it expects a reduction in earnings for the fourth quarter of this year of $425 million, or 26 cents per share “driven by 2015 and 2016 exchange product pressure.”

The ACA is suppose to balance the cost of adding high risk individuals by forcing low risk individuals to buy insurance, guess it isn't happening as much as they hope.

[Stormdash]

This is what the ACA was supposed to do, actually.

[Felya]

Source

The ACA is suppose to balance the cost of adding high risk individuals by forcing low risk individuals to buy insurance, guess it isn't happening as much as they hope.

Insurance companies leaving the exchange because it doesn't generate enouph profit? Doesn't that mean if not for ACA they would just pass the cost unto you? Be it through price increases or the cost of uninsured...

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This is what the ACA was supposed to do, actually.

Yep, thus the cap on profit and administrative costs.

[Xeones]

So basically we should cut the crap and just get to national healthcare (finally)?

[zenkai]

So basically we should cut the crap and just get to national healthcare (finally)?

We would be better off, our insurance is a joke. Even with insurance I hope to God nothing major happens to me because my premiums have skyrocketed since ACA came into effect.

[Crissi]

Pretty sure they would have sky rocketed anyways, because profit is the number 1 concern of a business

[Pterodactylus]

Time to join the rest of the modern world and get universal health care.

[Felya]

Pretty sure they would have sky rocketed anyways, because profit is the number 1 concern of a business

Yep, the issue here is that they might stop because they can't increase prices more than they had and will pull back marketing to see if it helps. Marketing that is included in our healthcare cost...

[alexw]

Source



The ACA is suppose to balance the cost of adding high risk individuals by forcing low risk individuals to buy insurance, guess it isn't happening as much as they hope.

Good news. It shows that the cost control provisions of the ACA are working. Drive out the high cost providers and cheaper more efficient ones come in to take their place, though as we all know a single payer system would be vastly more efficient and preferable than any of the alternatives including the ACA.

[Theinquisition]

Time to join the rest of the modern world and get universal health care.

When the govt can run the VA right I'll consider single payer.

[Deleted]

When the govt can run the VA right I'll consider single payer.

maybe you should elect some one that will actually over haul it so America can join the rest of the developed world instead of the draconian heath system over there

[Crissi]

When the govt can run the VA right I'll consider single payer.

Private really isn't all that much better, esp for non completely healthy individuals.

*glares at United* always giving me hell

[Daelak]

When the govt can run the VA right I'll consider single payer.

It runs the VA and medicare quite well actually. This is the problem with private health insurance programs, there aren't enough people in the actuarial pools to stop volatile price fluctuations. 320 million people in one pool will flatline costs, coupled with free medical schooling for qualified applicants, so we can have more general practioners to assist in preventative and 2nd tier operations, which is an issue in the VA currently.

[Gegan]

When the bastards wanted to raise my monthly payment by $50 this year, you can bet I went for someone else.

[Kujako]

When the govt can run the VA right I'll consider single payer.

Even the VA is better then what many people face pre-ACA, which is nothing.

[I Push Buttons]

Damn only $5,600,000,000 in profit instead of $6,100,000,000. Throw all those sick people under the bus, fuck em.

[ezgeze]

We would be better off, our insurance is a joke. Even with insurance I hope to God nothing major happens to me because my premiums have skyrocketed since ACA came into effect.

If you want to see how a federally ran health care system runs in the US look no further than the VA. It has loads of problems.

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Even the VA is better then what many people face pre-ACA, which is nothing.

It took me almost 6 months to see an optometrist and get glasses at the VA (and this was 1st available), how long do you think it should have taken?

[zenkai]

If you want to see how a federally ran health care system runs in the US look no further than the VA. It has loads of problems.

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It took me almost 6 months to see an optometrist and get glasses at the VA (and this was 1st available), how long do you think it should have taken?

True, I seen a VA shithole as I taken my late step father there many times, but i still think id rather give it a shot than what we have now

[I Push Buttons]

If you want to see how a federally ran health care system runs in the US look no further than the VA. It has loads of problems.

Because it only affects a few million veterans and the government has no power to negotiate for better rates BECAUSE its only a few million people...

If the government negotiated on behalf of 320,000,000 people instead of only 6,600,000 they could demand whatever the fuck they wanted. What are the drug companies and health care equipment companies going to do if they don't like the rates? Just quit and do nothing?

[Kujako]

It took me almost 6 months to see an optometrist and get glasses at the VA (and this was 1st available), how long do you think it should have taken?

Not the question. Is six months better then never? VA could use massive improvements, but saying that poor people should have no coverage rather then a VA quality equivalent is silly.