Obamacare Decay: Aetna Pulls Out of Most Obamacare Exchanges
The health insurance giant will only offer their products on exchanges in four states
The more than 800,000 Americans who purchase their insurance from one of Aetna’s exchange plans will be out of luck once this year is over. Health insurance giant Aetna announced late Monday evening that they would be scaling back their Obamacare exchange offerings to a paltry four states.
The reason? Losses amounting to more than $430 million.
“Following a thorough business review and in light of a second-quarter pretax loss of $200 million and total pretax losses of more than $430 million since January 2014 in our individual products, we have decided to reduce our individual public exchange presence in 2017, which will limit our financial exposure moving forward. More than 40 payers of various sizes have similarly chosen to stop selling plans in one or more rating areas in the individual public exchanges over the 2015 and 2016 plan years, collectively exiting hundreds of rating areas in more than 30 states. As a strong supporter of public exchanges as a means to meet the needs of the uninsured, we regret having to make this decision,” said Aetna in an official statement.
Like many other large insurers, Aetna claims they can no longer offer an affordable product.
“Providing affordable, high-quality health care options to consumers is not possible without a balanced risk pool. Fifty-five percent of our individual on-exchange membership is new in 2016, and in the second quarter we saw individuals in need of high-cost care represent an even larger share of our on-exchange population. This population dynamic, coupled with the current inadequate risk adjustment mechanism, results in substantial upward pressure on premiums and creates significant sustainability concerns.
“The vast majority of payers have experienced continued financial stress within their individual public exchange business due to these forces, which also are reported to have contributed to the failure of 16 out of 23 co-ops. We are encouraged by a recent announcement that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will explore new options to modify the risk adjustment program, and remain hopeful that we can work with policymakers from both parties on a sustainable public exchange model that meets the needs of the uninsured.”
Aetna will continue to offer exchange plans in Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska and Virginia.
The story is all too familiar — not enough young, healthy, individuals are purchasing plans from the exchange, leaving insurers with a pool of expensive to cover individuals.
In April, UnitedHealth announced its plans to withdraw from most exchanges.
The failure of the exchanges is not an Obamacare glitch, but a feature. Onward to single-payer!
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Comments
This my surprised face.
Actually, no. It’s my I told you so face.
Thank you, John Roberts. Thank you, Ben Nelson(D) of Nebraska.
Don’t forget the Minnesota vote fraudsters who elected that joke, Franken.
Thank you Mary “Louisiana Purchase” Landrieu.
The insurance companies that lobbied hard and successfully for oboondogglecare should have to continue to offer the insurance until they go broke. Without subsidies.
It’s only fair, after all they figured they’d have profits forever by forcing it on us.
The health penalty tax (a.k.a. “shared responsibility”) was an irresponsible act in the absence of moral principles (i.e. Pro-Choice) and in a highly regulated industry, and in the wake of progressive debt and anti-native policies (e.g. immigration replacement) to compensate.
Aetna owns Humana now, so is Humana also gone from most states as well?
The progressive plan is working to perfection: Obamacare was designed to fail, and President Obama has long been an advocate of a single-payer (read government) system. http://tinyurl.com/znmvl2m
Once Obamacare is totally toast, the government will step in and save the day.
What could tickle the cockles of a progressive’s heart more?
How nice, VA healthcare for everyone.
It’s not decaying, it’s spreading. Obamacare is working just as planned.
First question, what is Obamacare? It’s the bridge to single payer. It’s destroyed the private health care system (more accurately makes it impossible for the majority of the people in this country to access it) and then the usual suspects say, “Oh well, we tried it in the private sector , didn’t work, so here is a Medicaid card for everyone…”