UnitedHealth warns it may exit Obamacare plans

[IDemo]

Source: USA Today

Insurance giant UnitedHealth Group dealt a blow to the Affordable Care Act on Thursday when it warned that it may stop offering insurance plans to individuals through public exchanges established by the reform law.

In a surprise, UnitedHealth (UNH) downgraded its earnings forecast in a sign that ACA, commonly referred to as Obamacare, is taking a toll on the company’s bottom line.

People who purchase plans through the public exchanges are typically heavy users of their plans, draining insurers' profits.

“The company is evaluating the viability of the insurance exchange product segment and will determine during the first half of 2016 to what extent it can continue to serve the public exchange markets in 2017,” UnitedHealth said in a statement.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/11/19/unitedhealth-group-earnings-downgrade-obamacare-affordable-care-act/76040322/

[valerief]

1. Chip, chip, chip...

[geomon666]

2. Thank you UnitedHealth

for reaffirming to all of us that it's all about the fucking dollars.

[mike_c]

3. single payer NOW!

This is the Achilles heel of the ACA: it must be profitable for greedy insurance companies. Single payer would force private insurers to compete with the non-profit public sector on price and quality. Fuck 'em if they can't do that.

[area51]

19. Damn straight. n/t

[Arby]

4. I'll restate the obvious.

Health insurance/health care industries in the USA are not about providing health care to people, but are only about providing corporate/shareholder profits. Bernie is currently the only POTUS candidate to tell we citizens the truth about this and the only candidate to have a plan to remedy the situation.

[Still In Wisconsin]

5. I am constantly amazed that people are not more aware of this.

Obviously, insurance companies exist to make their shareholders and executives a profit. They are not altruistic, and they do nothing -ever- that they believe might cut into their bottom line.

Corporations are not people, my friend.

[PoliticAverse]

27. Many insurance companies are non-profits or 'mutual' insurance companies...

which are owned by the policyholders.

[LS_Editor]

6. Health insurance companies should be illegal.

Single. Payer. Now.

[harun]

20. Damn right. Health Insurance != Health Care.

[Vinca]

7. It was only a matter of time before the greedy pigs took a hike.

We need single-payer ASAP.

[Robbins]

8. This is why we need single payer

medicare/medicaid for all is the answer.not plans made for Insurance companys.

[jalan48]

9. Big, insurance driven health care plans.

What could possibly go wrong? I get a massive amount of paperwork every year from Blue Cross with important changes taking place on an ongoing basis. Instead of keeping it simple they make it very complex so that if I don't pay close attention I can see thousands of dollars disappear because what was covered this year won't be covered next year in the same manner. And, it will change again a year from now. It's like a shell game.

[DawgHouse]

10. I'm currently on a small State Continuation plan right now with UHC

that expires 1/11/16. I talked to UHC today about converting to an individual plan and the price is outrageous. To top it off, my Dr who currently accepts my UHC "small group" plan does not accept an individual plan with UHC.

Single payer now, yes!

[TrollBuster9090]

11. Gosh, maybe you shouldn't have paid your CEO $1,600,000,000?

First, maybe your profit margin wouldn't be so narrow if you didn't routinely pay your executives ridiculous amounts of money, like when Bill McGuire left, and was compensated $1,600,000,000.

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1848501_1848500_1848464,00.html

Second, this only proves that Obama was dead wrong not to include a PUBLIC OPTION in the ACA. Then there would actually be a competitive healthcare plan that is always guaranteed to offer good coverage at an affordable price.

[Kennah]

23. $1.6 billion doesn't buy what it used to n/t

[KansDem]

12. This is horseshit!!

The move comes amid indications that insurers are absorbing steeper costs than they expected from plans offered to individuals through the public exchanges, which are purchased online.

"Steeper than they expected?" It sounds like the insurance industry was taken completely by surprise. They are liars: they knew exactly what they were getting into, for if any industry knows demographics, it's the insurance business.

Take this line from "Double Indemnity" (1944)--

Barton Keyes: You know, you, uh, oughta take a look at the statistics on suicide some time. You might learn a little something about the insurance business.

Edward S. Norton: Mister Keyes, I was RAISED in the insurance business.

Barton Keyes: Yeah, in the front office. Come now, you've never read an actuarial table in your life, have you? Why they've got ten volumes on suicide alone. Suicide by race, by color, by occupation, by sex, by seasons of the year, by time of day. Suicide, how committed: by poison, by firearms, by drowning, by leaps. Suicide by poison, subdivided by *types* of poison, such as corrosive, irritant, systemic, gaseous, narcotic, alkaloid, protein, and so forth; suicide by leaps, subdivided by leaps from high places, under the wheels of trains, under the wheels of trucks, under the feet of horses, from *steamboats*. But, Mr. Norton, of all the cases on record, there's not one single case of suicide by leap from the rear end of a moving train. And you know how fast that train was going at the point where the body was found? Fifteen miles an hour. Now how can anybody jump off a slow-moving train like that with any kind of expectation that he would kill himself? No. No soap, Mr. Norton. We're sunk, and we'll have to pay through the nose, and you know it.

IMDB

The insurance industry knew exactly what it was getting into!

[LittleGirl]

13. Profits over people

that's the american way. Health be damned. Put them all out of business, those insurance companies are robbing us blind. I hate them all.

[Ducksworthy]

14. On to Plan B - Medicare for All

Gradually making younger age groups eligible for Medicare will improve the government system's actuarial soundness while leaving the private insurance industry gradually decreasing market share.

[Matariki]

15. Insurer's profits shouldn't ever BE part of health care.

asshats.

[Hoyt]

26. Their profits are a small part of the cost. I'm for removing it, but until you get everyone

else's profit out of the system, you'll cut "cost" about 6% - 10% depending upon how you view it. That's not enough to make many people happy. The problem is much deeper.

[Matariki]

28. I don't disagree.

Well, maybe with your numbers but it's just a quibble. We definitely need an overhaul of the financial parts of our healthcare system.

[Skeeter Barnes]

16. I thought that in return for the consumer mandate, insurers had to cooperate, too.

I guess not. Who could have predicted that? God Bless Murka and it's national religion, Capitalism.

Eventually, they'll get rid of the ban on denials for pre existing conditions. All that will be left is the mandate. You can bet your ass that will never go away.

[PatSeg]

17. And the country warns

it may exit for-profit health insurance!

Some things should not be for-profit and that includes anything related to healthcare. We've already seen what a disaster it has become.

I had UnitedHealth insurance years ago and it was the beginning of a long nightmare that ended up in bankruptcy. AND they were considered one of the good ones. I'm so sick of these vultures.

[csziggy]

18. Here in Florida they seem to only offer HMO plans

I just made my ACA choice and went with Blue Cross/Blue Shield. BC has all my providers in network and better drug plans. I have two prescriptions that are nearly $290 each - with Assurant this year I had to pay out of pocket (though I saved a bundle on one with GoodRx.com and by going with a discount from the manufacturer for the other).

BC/BS has one of my expensive drugs in their Tier 1 group so I get it for $16. The other, depending on whether the doctor said it was for asthma or not, will be $23 or $45. HUGE improvement. Plus our premiums and our co-pays are less with Blue Cross.

Assurant is bailing out of the ACA so even if I'd wanted to stay with them, I couldn't have. The only two companies still offering insurance in Florida now are UnitedHealth and Blue Cross. If United bails, Blue Cross will be the sole option.

[TexasBushwhacker]

25. No individual PPO plans in Texas either n/t

[llmart]

21. Oh, cry me a fucking river......

"taking a toll on the company's bottom line".

Most people I listen to/talk with have put insurance companies on the top of their list of entities not to be trusted. Health care providers hate them too.

[bullwinkle428]

22. Lobbyists for these huge health insurance conglomerates helped WRITE

the law! What kind of morons are they, to put themselves in a position like this after such a short time?

[Kennah]

24. Descent into universal healthcare

[librechik]

29. why was this giant involved in my government healthcare????

get profit out of healthcare!!

[WorseBeforeBetter]

30. I'm kind of amazed this headline isn't garnering more discussion.

Off to GD to see if that's where the action is...