Insurers warn Obamacare is unsustainable and expect premiums to rise again

[superbeets]

[h=1]Insurers warn Obamacare is unsustainable and expect premiums to rise again[/h]

• Affordable Care Act is in third year of new insurance markets
• Anthem and UnitedHealth have complained about exchanges
• Some companies are talking about ditching their participation in the marketplace or dramatically increasing prices
• Affordable Care Act opened up new markets allowing millions of Americans to buy coverage, often with tax subsidies to help them afford it
• 22 million Americans now have health coverage where previously they were uninsured

By DAILYMAIL.COM REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 17:49, 16 April 2016 | UPDATED: 18:17, 16 April 2016

 

[superbeets]

Health insurers are seriously concerned over the future of Obamacare as many insurers rapidly lose money.
Some companies are talking about ditching their participation in the marketplace or dramatically increasing prices - and there is also the threat of a total collapse.
The CEO of insurance provider Aetna says it's still too early to declare the federal health care program a failure but the company 'continues to have serious concerns about the sustainability of the public exchanges.'
Analysts had expected the program to become more stable as younger, healthier people purchased insurance, but that is not happening.

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Pricey: The HealthCare.gov website, where people can buy health insurance. Health insurers gained a sicker, more expensive patient population through the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansion

A report by insurance company Blue Cross Blue Shield found health insurers gained a sicker, more expensive patient population after the Affordable Care Act expanded coverage in 2014.
Newer customers had higher rates of diabetes, depression and high blood pressure, among other conditions.
They also visited the emergency room much more frequently than people who had private, individual coverage before the law expanded.
Another report, by McKinsey and Company showed insurance companies lost money in 41 states in 2014, in the individual market, which includes Obamacare marketplaces. Blue Cross of North Carolina’s CEO Brad Wilson claimed a loss of $400 million.
“There’s not going to be something magical happen that will cause this to turn around,” Wilson said to AOL.
Researchers caution against drawing broad conclusions about the newly insured based on what amounts to a limited look at a still-evolving health care market. But the numbers show how gaining coverage is only part of a long journey toward the ACA's other key goals of improving health and slowing cost growth.
'The coverage is the first step,' said Linda Blumberg, a health insurance expert at Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization. 'Figuring out how to help these folks use medical care in the most effective ways is a real challenge.'

 

[superbeets]

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Going up Republican members of Congress who were against the Affordable Care Act have long-warned of the problem of insurers being forced to raise premiums

The association compiled its report from dozens of insurers that sell Blue-branded coverage in 46 states and Washington, D.C. It compared claims from newer customers with two populations: people who bought coverage before the law expanded and those who have insurance through an employer.
Medical costs for new customers were, on average, 19 percent higher in 2014 and 22 percent higher in 2015 than for customers with employer-based coverage.
Health insurers expected their initial wave of patients from the ACA expansion to generate higher-than-normal claims because some of the uninsured had not used the health care system for years and were waiting for coverage to help pay for needed care.
Companies also have struggled initially to add younger consumers who don't consume as much health care, and they have been hurt by expensive patients who sign up outside regular enrollment windows.
Basic economics also may be behind the higher health care use, since the law lowered care costs by expanding coverage.
'If you lower the price of anything, people are going to use it more,' said Blumberg, the Urban Institute expert who did not work on the Blue Cross Blue Shield report.

 

[superbeets]

She added that it is too early to draw firm conclusions about trends in use, and the association's report doesn't include insurers that don't sell Blue Cross Blue Shield plans.
That includes prominent exchange participants like the nation's largest insurer, UnitedHealth Group Inc., Aetna Inc. and Molina Healthcare Inc.
Even so, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association Senior Vice President Alissa Fox said their findings underscore a need for better care management.
That means making sure newly insured diabetes patients get regular blood sugar checks, or those with other chronic diseases keep taking their medicine.
It also involves basic steps like connecting patients with a primary care doctor and teaching them about preventive care like flu shots that can ward off more expensive treatments.
Many newly insure patients are used to simply waiting until they become very sick and then going to an emergency room, said Dr. J. Mario Molina, CEO of Molina Healthcare.
His company offers coverage on public exchanges in nine states. Molina said earlier this year that they have been surprised with how hard it has been to draw new patients into a doctor's office.
'They had been uninsured for so long that they didn't understand that this is what ... modern insurance is all about,' he said. 'It's about prevention and getting ahead of problems, not waiting until the last minute.'

 

[superbeets]

Read more:

• Insurers warn Obamacare is unsustainable, expect premiums to rise again - AOL

 

[GasMan]

Is it to late to tell them "Told ya so"

Or should we wait on that?

 

[LENBO]

Is it to late to tell them "Told ya so"

Or should we wait on that?

The them you are referring to will call it a success no matter what the numbers say.

 

[GasMan]

Quite true LENBO.

The libs are a sick bunch.

 

[superbeets]

[h=1]UnitedHealth's Obamacare exit won't hurt system but is a PR blow, say experts[/h]


The practical impact of the US’s largest health insurer quitting insurance exchanges created by Obamacare is small, but it adds fuel to critics’ arguments


Amanda Holpuch

@holpuch

Wednesday 20 April 2016 21.35 BST



UnitedHealth’s decision to drop out of the Obamacare insurance market will have little practical impact on the system, industry analysts have said.
Stephen Hemsley, UnitedHealth’s CEO, said on Tuesday that the US’s largest single insurer would be quitting most of the 34 state insurance exchanges it participated in. The company expects its participation in the exchanges, which were created as part of Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, to cause $1bn in losses, Hemsley said.

But Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Center onHealth Insurance Reforms, said the practical impact of the move would be “pretty minimal”.



“Ultimately, I think what we will see over time is that this market, that is currently in a lot of flux, is going to settle down and that there are going to be carriers that find they can make money in this market and do fairly well,” Corlette told the Guardian.
Insurance industry consultant John Gorman told Politico the move was a “nothingburger” in terms of its impact on the insurance marketplace.
The more palpable problem is the public relations issue the announcement creates for the Obama administration.
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, a Texas senator, said in a statement that United’s decision was not a surprise. “That’s the latest in a string of Obamacare failures that have led to American families losing their doctors, having few or no insurance options, and facing skyrocketing premiums and deductibles,” said Cruz.
Florida senator Marco Rubio, who last month dropped out of the Republican presidential nomination race, echoed Cruz’s statement. “It’s clear the health insurance companies that helped pass Obamacare want nothing to do with it now that they’re losing money and can’t get the taxpayer-funded bailout that was tucked deep into the law,” Rubio said.



Major insurers have expressed concerns about the cost of state health exchanges. Last month, a Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association report showed insurers were paying for patients who were sicker and needed more medical care than before. Before the Affordable Care Act went into effect in 2014, insurers could deny coverage to people because of pre-existing conditions.
But the impact of United leaving is small, in part because the insurance provider mainly traffics in employer-based insurance plans, which it does not sell on the insurance exchanges. It was only in four state marketplaces in 2014, before jumping to 23 in 2015 and then 34 in 2016.
“Overall, because United was a pretty minor player in this market, it is not a huge impact and there will be some counties where it is reducing the number of carriers to either one or two carriers, but that’s just for 2017,” Corlette said.
If United leaves every state exchange marketplace, 17% of US counties will be left with only one insurer, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis released the day before United’s announcement.
This could be an opportunity for other insurance companies to participate in the state markets, though they are unlikely to do so before the 11 May deadline to enter the 2017 market.
But United’s decision could pose challenges for the nearly 800,000 individuals covered by United in a state health exchange.
If United leaves a person’s state, they will have to search for a plan that mimics their existing coverage when open enrollment starts again in November.
“That’s going to be so particularly important for anybody who is in treatment for something,” said Corlette. “So if it’s a cancer patient, you have to make sure they can still see their oncologist and their hospitals.”
Corlette said that there should be a push by United and insurance regulators to ensure people understand what they need to do and are moved to a quality product, though United is under no legal obligation to do so. They are obligated, however, to notify people that the change is being made.
The Obama administration expressed no concern that United’s decision would harm the health insurance marketplace. Ben Wakana, spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement that the marketplace offers a “robust number of plan choices”. Wakana said: “We have full confidence, based on data, that the marketplaces will continue to thrive for years ahead.”
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law in March 2010 in an effort to reform healthcare in the US to give more Americans access to affordable health insurance. Government estimates show that 20 million adults have gained health insurance since the law was passed.

 

[busterhyman]

so the largest U.S. health insurer is out-but it won't hurt the system.liberal logic

 

[roadreeler57]

Obamacare is supposed to fail on purpose so they can switch to single payer run by the government so they can have full government control over all of your health care...Vote for www.donaldjtrump.com & the Government run single payer wont happen....Put Hillary in there & it will happen...

 

[Dave007inVegas]

Obamacare is supposed to fail on purpose so they can switch to single payer run by the government so they can have full government control over all of your health care...Vote for www.donaldjtrump.com & the Government run single payer wont happen....Put Hillary in there & it will happen...

Contrary to popular belief that was the plan from day.