UnitedHealth Weighs Leaving Obamacare Marketplace, Stock Drops

I read the headlines in the USA Today paper (at work) and they have "decided" to leave in 2016 and are pulling all their low-rate plans due to lack of "paying" enrollments and the "heavy use" and entitlement strain on the system costing them $430+Million this last quarter of 2015 and bringing down their stock.

They insure over half a million people under low cost plans who will now have to seek another market for their healthcare even with the rising costs
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UnitedHealth's announcement comes as other insurers have been sounding alarms about their exchange business, but the big insurer went considerably farther than its peers in flagging the recent rapid deterioration of its performance and raising concerns about future viability. UnitedHealthalso changed its own tone markedly from its Oct. 15 earnings call, when it said it expected "strikingly better" results on the exchanges in 2016, due partly to price increases that it said averaged in the double digits.

The impact of the insurance industry's struggles is already clear in the products currently on offer in the marketplaces, many of which are aimed at stanching a flood of red ink. For these plans, which will take effect in 2016, many insurers have raised premiums in order to cover the medical costs of enrollees, which have run higher than many companies originally projected, fueling this year's losses. Insurers have also shifted to offering more limited choices of health-care providers. The majority of the startup cooperative insurers created under the health law are slated to shut down.

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Obozocare is imploding and United Health is one of the biggest providers of coverage outside the exchanges for the ACA.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/video/unitedhealth-group-may-leave-obamacare-whats-next/4621980527001

you have to vote for it before you can read it!

I think that I'd better change my plan.

Your escape plan?

No, my plan to reject radical Melacians coming into the US.

The news today?

Insurers are saying that if Oblowmecare is not reformed they will be unable to offer ANY coverage or policies with the program written and performing as it is today.

Many are saying that at the expense they are presently incurring under the ACA guidelines most insurers will face the possibility or necessity of filing bankruptcy by 2018/20 with yearly losses in the 100's of millions each year until forced to do so.

Smell that bailout coming? No way Oblowme will end yet another of his legacy failures, and there is no way to fix something as broken as the ACA has proven to be

As I understand it, Obama gave the Republicans a raise in the military budget in exchange for a blank check for the rest of his term. You can bet that he is going to fund Obamacare and anything else he wants.

I spoke to a friend a few days ago about health insurance. Being a CPA with two kids, he had looked closely. He said Obamacare was actually more expensive and paid less than the full coverage "normal" plan he was buying for about 2/3s the cost of Obamacare.

and there shall be Bail-outs and Rumors of Bail-outs!

"" On Thursday, the administration tried to calm
insurers, sending them a written memo full of
promises. Obama’s Department of Health and
Human Services vowed to go to Congress for
full funding to reimburse insurers for their
losses.
At issue is the Affordable Care Act’s so-called
“risk corridor” program. Profitable insurers are
supposed to pay into a fund every year to help
unprofitable insurers. But with nearly all
insurers losing money on ObamaCare, there’s
not enough money in the pot. Insurers
requested $2.9 billion to offset their 2014
losses, and were told they would get only 13
cents on the dollar, because the pot is so
empty.
That shortfall pushed several co-ops into
bankruptcy, including Health Republic.
UnitedHealthcare also said it was a reason for
its reluctance to stay in ObamaCare. But too
bad for insurers. They’re in business to take
risks and either make money or lose it.
The risk-corridor program shouldn’t be used to
funnel taxpayer money to insurers. But the
administration is trying to weasel around it and
get Congress to fill the pot with taxpayer
dollars. That’s what makes it a bailout. And
crony capitalism.
When Obama tried this last year, Republicans in
Congress stopped it. In the coming weeks,
count on Obama and congressional Democrats
to try slipping insurance-bailout money into the
spending bills being rushed through Congress
as the year closes.""
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/here-comes-the-next-bailout-the-obamacare-risk-corridor-subsidy-to-insurers/