The insurers wrote the Health Act. And they are pulling out or collapsing.

[dixiegrrrrl]

UnitedHealth Group May Leave Obamacare Exchanges By 2017

UnitedHealth Group UNH +1.79%, 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.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2015/11/19/unitedhealth-group-dogged-by-obamacare-may-leave-exchanges-by-2017/

United Heath is one of the very largest insurance groups..

This shows
people coming into the exchange aren't paying enough (even though the rates are exorbitant) and they're sicker.

for those with the cheaper plans it's basically no insurance at all due to the insanely high deductibles, and now HUGE premium increases.

and this:

The majority of ObamaCare’s insurance co-ops—12 of 23—have now folded, and their $1.24 billion in federal loans has all but vaporized. More will fail, nearly a million Americans may lose coverage, and now the contagion from their failures is spreading.

The co-ops are government-sponsored nonprofits that were supposed to increase competition, but instead they’re causing the greatest insurance disruption in decades. The co-ops aren’t merely jilting their displaced members or the taxpayers who supplied their “seed money.” Local regulators are defying the feds to close them because other insurers are liable for their toxic balance sheets.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/obamacares-failure-contagion-1447116079

[TM99]

1. Some of us predicted this would likely occur.

We were called all sorts of bad names too!

This is appalling, and I hope that we can get something else in place soon.

[Fairgo]

8. I will not forget the derision

The strengths of ignorance are its unassailable confidence in uninformed opinions and inscrutable logic that justifies any outcome. I look forward to the rebuttal. Playing chess with pigeons will make as much sense.

[pnwmom]

21. And some of you are wrong. UHC is NOT a major player in this market.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/23/opinion/health-reform-lives.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region

But the law’s first two years of full implementation went remarkably well. The number of uninsured Americans dropped sharply, roughly in line with projections, while costs came in well below expectations. Opponents of reform could have reconsidered their position — but that hardly ever happens in modern politics. Instead, they doubled down on their forecasts of doom, and hyped every hint of bad news.

I mention all of this to give you some perspective on recent developments that mark a break in the string of positive surprises. Yes, Obamacare has hit a few rough patches lately. But they’re much less significant than a lot of the reporting, let alone the right-wing reaction, would have you believe. Health reform is still a huge success story.

SNIP

Finally, UnitedHealth Group made a splash by announcing that it is losing money on the policies it sells on the Obamacare exchanges, and is considering withdrawing from the market after next year. There were some puzzling things about the announcement, leading to speculation about ulterior motives, but the main thing to realize is that UnitedHealth, while a huge provider of employment-based insurance, is actually a fairly small player in this market, and that other players are sounding much more positive.


Oh, and official projections now say that fewer people will enroll in those exchanges than previously predicted. But the main reason is that surprisingly few employers are dropping coverage; overall projections for the number of uninsured Americans still look pretty good.

[historylovr]

2. K & R

[zipplewrath]

3. Not all the companies agree

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/la-fi-aetna-anthem-obamacare-20151120-story.html

Aetna said last month that the exchanges remain a good market, even though enrollment fell 11 percent to about 814,000 people in the third quarter. The insurer said Friday it still expects 2015 operating earnings of $7.45 to $7.55 per share.

Anthem, which recent reaffirmed its forecast, said again on Friday that it expects adjusted earnings ranging between $10.10 and $10.20 per share.

Analysts forecast, on average, 2015 earnings of $7.55 per share for Aetna and $10.20 per share for Anthem.

[truedelphi]

10. Well since Anthem makes it diffIcult for any poor person to collect

Last edited Tue Nov 24, 2015, 05:09 PM - Edit history (1)

the payments they shell out of pocket, I am not surprised. (The doctors tell you that you have to pay them and get the Big Insurer to re-imburse you, but the Big Insurer than says, "we can
not reimburse you: we should have been the ones paying the bill. Since you "goofed" you are now out of luck."

I wonder where I could get a set income from a group of people, make them pay me an additional amounts of money before I ever do any work, and then refuse to pay the monies that are the reimbursement monies

This is nothing but "protection" in the way that the Mafiosa handles protection.

[WillowTree]

17. Report any doctors who do that to the insurer.

If they're in the network, they know that they have to collect directly from the insurer. Let the company remind them.

[truedelphi]

18. HAHAHAHAHA! n/t

[nationalize the fed]

4. CEO of UnitedHealth Group Stephen J Hemsley made $66 million dollars in 2014

UnitedHealth Group Mulls Losses, Blames Obamacare, But CEO Stephen Hemsley Took Home $66M In 2014

...snip...Since the warning emerged, much attention has focused upon the challenges posed by an ever fluctuating healthcare landscape and the flaws of the Affordable Care Act. Yet in 2014, Hemsley took home more than $66 million in total compensation, and pay for healthcare executives has steadily risen in recent years even as experts have suggested that such pay hurts both insurers and customers.

The $66 million that Hemsley made in 2014 included $45.5 million in exercised stock options. His actual salary of $1.3 million was minimal by comparison. Analysts have said that payment in equity rather than cash can lead to short-term thinking for executives, such as a focus on how to boost share prices...
http://www.ibtimes.com/unitedhealth-group-mulls-losses-blames-obamacare-ceo-stephen-hemsley-took-home-66m-2194436

A country that allows a CEO of a company to make $66 million dollars a year from mandated-by-law purchases has completely lost it. And this is the gift to the next generation- mandated payments so some jackass at the top can be helicoptered around to his various properties.

Olbermann told it like it was- and soon after this, he was FIRED

Health Extortion: Shove mandatory corporate insurance right up where the sun doesn't shine

[AwakeAtLast]

11. Thank you!

For pointing that out.

[truedelphi]

28. Great post and video. And remember the Supreme Court ruled that the

ACA is not health insurance coverage but a tax, so we don't necessarily get to expect to have any return on our monies, just as we often do not get a return on our tax dollars.

[leftofcool]

5. #1 United Health Care is a shit company.

#2 The major companies are fine.

[Waldorf]

7. United Health Care is the biggest insurance company, so I would consider them a major

company.

[KamaAina]

19. So? Walmart is the biggest retailer, but they, too, are a shit company.

[Vincardog]

6. MURDOCK owns the WSJ it shows

[lindysalsagal]

9. As long as we insist on making profits off of the sick and aging, "healthcare" will flounder.

It's time to remove the profit from the industry and take care of each other.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

12. And the big tax penalties for not having Obamacare kick in in 2016.

....

2016: The worst year yet for Obamacare penalties

The penalties reach their worst next year, with huge increases coming once again. The per-person charge in 2016 jumps to $695 per adult and $347.50 per child, topping out at a whopping $2,085 per family. The income-based penalty rises to 2.5%.

After that, increases will be more modest. The amount of the Obamacare penalty in 2017 and thereafter will be indexed to the Consumer Price Index, with maximums gradually rising over time.

How you can avoid Obamacare penalties

As you can see, the penalty amounts for not having adequate health insurance coverage get quite draconian in a hurry. However, there are several provisions within Obamacare that could help you avoid having to pay the penalty even if you don't have qualifying coverage.

One of the most common exemptions applies to those who have a short-term gap in coverage, whether due to a change in jobs or other circumstances. If you lose coverage for no more than three months, you won't owe a penalty for those months.

....

http://www.fool.com/how-to-invest/personal-finance/taxes/2015/06/08/why-obamacare-penalties-in-2016-will-be-the-worst.aspx

It's gonna be an interesting year...

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. So the put a gun to your wallet forcing you to buy overpriced insurance

which have huge deductibles.
Which is why I was against the plan.

We could all have FREE health care for the price of the non-functional F-35 plane
or a years worth of drones
or the cost of not bombing innocent people in the Middle East
or................................

[WorseBeforeBetter]

16. Mandates, high deductibles... parts of it are a huge clusterfuck.

Hatred of Obamacare is one of the reasons Republicans took over in North Carolina, and they've been RUTHLESS. I work at a hospital and see an insane number of people with NO insurance. Wonder how these penalties will go over with them come November?

The defense budget is obscene. Many have learned NOTHING from Iraq or Afghanistan -- I'm hearing way too much "boots on the ground" in Syria.

[Facility Inspector]

14. cheaper than the deductibles

and the monthly payments.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

15. It will piss people off and I wonder if/how they'll vote in November.

I work at a hospital and see patients -- of all colors -- with no insurance. I don't know their political affiliations, but they aren't going to be happy.

Hatred of Obamacare is one of the reasons Republicans took over North Carolina, and what we're going through now *ain't* pretty.

[pnwmom]

20. "They" -- meaning insurance companies -- are NOT pulling out or collapsing.

One minor player in the market, United Healthcare (which is a major player in employee-based healthcare but minor in the ACA) has announced that it is considering pulling out.

You cite two business sources. Paul Krugman, the progressive Nobel-prize-winning economist, has the opposite point of view.

With regard to co-ops, the problem is that Congress failed to allocate the interim funding the ACA correctly anticipated would be needed and wrote into the law. Unfortunately, it required a separate allocation in the budget bill. Without that funding, yes, the co-ops are failing.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/23/opinion/health-reform-lives.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region

But the law’s first two years of full implementation went remarkably well. The number of uninsured Americans dropped sharply, roughly in line with projections, while costs came in well below expectations. Opponents of reform could have reconsidered their position — but that hardly ever happens in modern politics. Instead, they doubled down on their forecasts of doom, and hyped every hint of bad news.

I mention all of this to give you some perspective on recent developments that mark a break in the string of positive surprises. Yes, Obamacare has hit a few rough patches lately. But they’re much less significant than a lot of the reporting, let alone the right-wing reaction, would have you believe. Health reform is still a huge success story.

SNIP

Finally, UnitedHealth Group made a splash by announcing that it is losing money on the policies it sells on the Obamacare exchanges, and is considering withdrawing from the market after next year. There were some puzzling things about the announcement, leading to speculation about ulterior motives, but the main thing to realize is that UnitedHealth, while a huge provider of employment-based insurance, is actually a fairly small player in this market, and that other players are sounding much more positive.


Oh, and official projections now say that fewer people will enroll in those exchanges than previously predicted. But the main reason is that surprisingly few employers are dropping coverage; overall projections for the number of uninsured Americans still look pretty good.

[HuckleB]

22. +1

I still want single payer, but...

[pnwmom]

23. I would prefer that, too. In the meantime, FYI,

I added the link to Krugman's piece about the possible United Healthcare pull-out.

[HuckleB]

24. Thanks.

[truedelphi]

26. Well why in the world would a big time player like Anthem

Bother to pull out of the exchanges? They now get the premiums and the subsidies, and all they require of themselves is that they offer a person vaccinations and items like "cholesterol lowering meds" which is a big boon to their Pharma side of their business.

But when it comes to delivering actual health care, forget it. They have the insured person's money, but that insured person should not expect real health care.

I mentioned to the receptionist at my audioligist's office that I don't have insurance. She went on to tell me that she felt forced into going on the Calif. exchange. Her experience with the Calif. exchange only confirmed my opinion of it.

In July she had an unusual experience of heavy bleeding. It turns out she was six weeks pregnant and she was miscarrying. But rather than do a D & C, which is standard procedure to make sure you don't hemorrhage to death in the wee hours of the morning, they sent her home and told her to rest until the bleeding stopped. They didn't want to see her when the bleeding stopped either, but she insisted. Then they told her that she had ovarian cysts, but again, no procedures or practices were offered up to help her. But at least, they "assured" her, she wouldn't be getting pregnant again.

Well she did get pregnant again. Went through the same damn exp3rience of bleeding without any help or followup care. She ended up going back to Mexico, her country of origin. There she got the D & C she needed, and she also got treatment for her cysts.

Of course, if you don't have dual citizenship, you wouldn't get the type of help that she got.

[TumbleAndJumble]

25. May leave and a company whose primary business is employer based coverage, Anti-health care hype

and Krugman has written a column about the cycle of anti-Health Care act attacks. He calls it quite rightfully the Obamacare disinformation loop.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/12/the-obamacare-disinformation-loop/?_r=0

[truedelphi]

27. Krugman wouldn't be able to find his arse if

A proctologist didn't point the way for him.

But of course he will carry water for this and all other Democratic Administrations. It helps ensure his position as an insider at a Big University. And that the media is always there to further his blah blah blah.