Towards the end of last year, Obamacare co-ops were dropping like flies.
12 of the 23 taxpayer funded non-profit co-ops created under the Affordable Care Act were shuttered, and the largest of them is under investigation. By the end of 2014, 21 of the 23 non-profit health insurance co-ops created under the ACA were losing money. Enrollment was well beneath expectations in 13 of the 23 plans.
And the news isn’t getting any better.
Records obtained by Richard Pollack of the Daily Caller indicate another 8 co-ops might be on their way out this year:
“In general, there’s not a turnaround in sight. The same problems that plagued them before are continuing,” Thomas P. Miller, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who previously served as the senior health economist for the congressional Joint Economic Committee, told TheDCNF.Obamacare advocates hoped the tax-funded non-profit co-ops would successfully compete with for-profit commercial insurance companies and drive down healthcare costs and eventually become permanent fixtures in the marketplace….Data compiled by TheDCNF based on the co-op 2015 annual reports suggest eight are likely to default and only four of them will be in business by year’s end.The co-op documents obtained by TheDCNF were annual reports filed before state insurance regulators. The reports must accurately depict the financial health of the co-ops and are current through the end of calendar year 2015. The annual reports became available to the public in mid-March.
And then there were 4. Until those became insolvent and closed down, too.
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