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UnitedHealth Makes Good on Threat to Pull Out of Obamacare

JumpinJack

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UnitedHealth Makes Good on Threat to Pull Out of Obamacare

The Affordable Care Act suffered another jolt late last week with the news that UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest health insurer, was making good on its threat to pull out of Obamacare, beginning with its operations in Georgia and Arkansas.

UnitedHealth roiled the market last November when it revealed that it was considering exiting Obamacare after incurring hundreds of millions of dollars in losses related to ACA business. Then UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley confessed to investors meeting in New York in December that the company should have stayed out of the program a little longer to better gauge its profitability potential.

So it wasn’t a huge surprise on Friday when UnitedHealth spokesperson Tyler Mason confirmed to The Washington Post that the company, indeed, was pulling out of Georgia and Arkansas, two relatively small states that proved to be highly unprofitable terrain for the company.

This development is troubling, especially if it UnitedHealth pulls out of other bigger states, or if other major insurers such as Aetna and Anthem follow suit. But experts have cautioned not to make too much of UnitedHealth’s flight from the market. While it is one of the largest insurers on the national scene, UnitedHealth nonetheless is a bit player in Obamacare and holds a much smaller market share than other rivals like Aetna and Blue Cross Blue Shield.

United Health and Aetna both reported losses last year after the companies badly underestimated the cost of providing health care insurance to many individuals who turned out to be older and sicker than they had anticipated. UnitedHealth generally enrolled consumers with better health than the overall exchange population, according to Hemsley, but it still lost money.

“As with any new market, we expect changes and adjustments in the early years with issuers both entering and exiting states,” Aaron Albright, a spokesperson for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which operates Obamacare, told the Washington Post. “The marketplace is a reliable source of coverage for millions of Americans with a robust number of plan choices.”

A robust number of plan choices?

In the city I'm moving to, only two insurance cos. sell Obamacare: Blue Cross Blue Shield and United HealthCare. Only HMOs for BCBS, and only EPOs for UNH.

Previously, BCBS had pulled its PPOs from the state of Texas, and Unite Healthcare chose not to offer PPOs in Texas. As you may known, many providers don't accept HMOs for the reason that they pay so little and are hard to work with because of the regulations and requirements by the insurance companies. BCBS is being sued for providing fraudulent provider lists, luring in unsuspecting insureds, who later could not find providers who would take the insurance. (I ran across that myself with BCBS; I had what appeared to be a totally false list, not just an outdated list; it had knee specialists on the PCP list, and numerous doctors who never did take that policy, and a few who could not be located in the city at all.)

BCBS has issues with being accepted by providers (I called around and searched for a PCP for some time in my current big city before finally finding ONE who would take it, but it was too late for me to get in for an annual exam before my move, or get a flu shot). However, the good thing was that UNH would sell it in the new city I eventually settle in. Now, it looks like that may not be the case, and would leave only BCBS, which is lousy insurance. It covers only one of the two hospitals in the city. (There's that "choice" issue again.)
 
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This is what makes me so happy to have OHIP.
 
good, get rid of for profit mafia middle men insurance companies
 
It is pretty clear that not only did ObamaCare make the nations healthcare spending worse (currently the costs are expanding at 3-4 times inflation if one trusts the government to tell the truth (not hide costs) , this is likely to get worse, and we were already paying way too much for pretty crap service) , but it also was set up in a non sustainable way. The next President is going to have to figure out something to fix Obama's poor work.
 
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good, get rid of for profit mafia middle men insurance companies

So insurance companies are the mafia? Lol. I was not aware the Mafia was a legal company that was heavily regulated by the government.

Now mafia, you're only allowed to kill three people this month.
 
UnitedHealth Makes Good on Threat to Pull Out of Obamacare

A robust number of plan choices?

In the city I'm moving to, only two insurance cos. sell Obamacare: Blue Cross Blue Shield and United HealthCare. Only HMOs for BCBS, and only EPOs for UNH.

Previously, BCBS had pulled its PPOs from the state of Texas, and Unite Healthcare chose not to offer PPOs in Texas. As you may known, many providers don't accept HMOs for the reason that they pay so little and are hard to work with because of the regulations and requirements by the insurance companies. BCBS is being sued for providing fraudulent provider lists, luring in unsuspecting insureds, who later could not find providers who would take the insurance. (I ran across that myself with BCBS; I had what appeared to be a totally false list, not just an outdated list; it had knee specialists on the PCP list, and numerous doctors who never did take that policy, and a few who could not be located in the city at all.)

BCBS has issues with being accepted by providers (I called around and searched for a PCP for some time in my current big city before finally finding ONE who would take it, but it was too late for me to get in for an annual exam before my move, or get a flu shot). However, the good thing was that UNH would sell it in the new city I eventually settle in. Now, it looks like that may not be the case, and would leave only BCBS, which is lousy insurance. It covers only one of the two hospitals in the city. (There's that "choice" issue again.)

As a Veteran I am covered for medical issues by the Veteran's Administration medical benefit. I haven't spent much thought on the ACA (Obamacare).

So what happens when all the insurance companies pull out or participation? Where does that leave citizens with those "state exchanges?"
 
As a Veteran I am covered for medical issues by the Veteran's Administration medical benefit. I haven't spent much thought on the ACA (Obamacare).

So what happens when all the insurance companies pull out or participation? Where does that leave citizens with those "state exchanges?"

That's pretty much the plan. That's how we get the "single payer" plan that will make everything peaches and cream. Pretty soon nobody will ever need to pay for their health care again. Granted, you will probably need to sit in a cockroach infested waiting room to deal with some bureaucrat before you can see a doctor that was actually a welder last year but it will be "free" and you'll be happy.
 
UnitedHealth Makes Good on Threat to Pull Out of Obamacare

A robust number of plan choices?

In the city I'm moving to, only two insurance cos. sell Obamacare: Blue Cross Blue Shield and United HealthCare. Only HMOs for BCBS, and only EPOs for UNH.

Previously, BCBS had pulled its PPOs from the state of Texas, and Unite Healthcare chose not to offer PPOs in Texas. As you may known, many providers don't accept HMOs for the reason that they pay so little and are hard to work with because of the regulations and requirements by the insurance companies. BCBS is being sued for providing fraudulent provider lists, luring in unsuspecting insureds, who later could not find providers who would take the insurance. (I ran across that myself with BCBS; I had what appeared to be a totally false list, not just an outdated list; it had knee specialists on the PCP list, and numerous doctors who never did take that policy, and a few who could not be located in the city at all.)

BCBS has issues with being accepted by providers (I called around and searched for a PCP for some time in my current big city before finally finding ONE who would take it, but it was too late for me to get in for an annual exam before my move, or get a flu shot). However, the good thing was that UNH would sell it in the new city I eventually settle in. Now, it looks like that may not be the case, and would leave only BCBS, which is lousy insurance. It covers only one of the two hospitals in the city. (There's that "choice" issue again.)

mmmm, I clicked on the link to try to understand why one would consider UH leaving a 'threat' but all I saw was JJ regurgitating her previous tales of woe of questionable veracity.
 
That's pretty much the plan. That's how we get the "single payer" plan that will make everything peaches and cream. Pretty soon nobody will ever need to pay for their health care again. Granted, you will probably need to sit in a cockroach infested waiting room to deal with some bureaucrat before you can see a doctor that was actually a welder last year but it will be "free" and you'll be happy.

Nawww.. not yet. Watch and see what happens. I make a good bet that rates will allowed to go up and government subsidies will increase. Just in time for the elections don't you know.

this is a great play by the insurance companies. (one of the fatal flaws of obamacare really.. putting the government on the hook)
 
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