With steep losses expected from healthcare insurers due to the detrimental consequences under Obamacare, insurance companies have had to face the hard decision of raising premiums for their customers or pulling out of marketplace exchanges altogether. With fewer insurers in the marketplace, customers will likely see higher costs from less competition and having limited options to healthcare will lead to underserved customers in rural areas.
The Wall Street Journal reported that many health-insurance customers, especially those from rural regions, will be left with little choice to care as insurance providers flee from the unsustainable exchanges set up by Obamacare. Customers in Alabama and Alaska will have only one insurer to choose from their online exchanges. In Arizona, The Arizona Republic reported that BlueCross BlueShield of Arizona is the only insurer who has filed paperwork to sell insurance in every county in the State, leaving concern that options will be severely
limited in rural counties.
Health-insurance customers in a growing number of mostly rural regions will have just one insurer’s plans to choose from on the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges next year, as some companies pull out of unprofitable markets.
Affordable Care Act boosters in Arizona said they are concerned by the dwindling options many consumers may face in rural Arizona.
The Baltimore Sun reported that United Healthcare, America’s largest insurer, has once again chosen to cut its losses and quit another state’s healthcare exchange set up under Obamacare:
The unanticipated costs of providing health care to customers on the state’s online exchange has prompted large insurers to seek rate increases of up to 30 percent while one insurer decided not to offer individual plans at all.
United Healthcare, the nation’s largest insurer but a bit player in Maryland, was not included on a list released Friday by state regulators of companies seeking rate increases for 2017.
It is an easy choice for insurance companies to leave these exchanges when they are faced insurmountable losses. The Baltimore Sun reported that United Healthcare’s decision to leave Maryland’s exchange was probably due to an expected loss of almost $1 billion over the past two years. The Times Free Press reported that BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee continues to hemorrhage money despite raising average premiums by more than 60 percent over the past two years. With massive losses from insurance providers, we shouldn’t expect healthcare providers to remain in Obamacare exchanges for long:
United Healthcare would not comment on why it pulled out of the Maryland market, but it announced during an earnings call with analysts last month that it would only stay on exchanges in a handful of states as it tries to stem revenue losses directly related to marketplaces. The company said it lost $475 million on exchanges last year and could lose $500 million this year.
In the first two years of offering the new plans under the Affordable Care Act, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee lost $311 million on such plans. The insurer says it is continuing to lose money again this year from Obamacare even after raising average premiums in the program by more than 60 percent over the past two years.
With a reported loss of $185 million on individual plans sold during the first two years of marketplace exchanges, Blue Cross Blue Shield said there aren’t enough people signing up for Arizona’s marketplace plans and paying monthly premiums to offset those losses.
As options for healthcare continue to dwindle from Obamacare exchanges, customers are faced with less access to quality healthcare and greater costs. We should expect to see more healthcare providers leave states as their costs for providing care continue to increase. As the truth of the abysmal healthcare law continues to be unveiled, the American people are left with less choice for care, less quality, and greater costs.