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Predictably (and predicted), Obamacare is in some more choppy waters. The anticipated rising premiums are well-discussed. Vox...VOX, for chrissakes, takes up the choppy waters: http://www.vox.com/2016/8/16/1249992...e-marketplaces
Duh. What will be fascinating is that when Obamacare hits a failure threshold sufficient to reevaluate, will the move be toward single-payer or back to pre-Obama.
Understanding Aetna’s decision-making process is important for understanding what decisions other insurers might do in the coming months and years.
Aetna’s decision definitely means the Obamacare marketplaces will have significantly less competition in 2017. The insurer was a decently sized player in the individual market, covering 911,000 marketplace enrollees as of April 2016.
The insurer will pull out of some really big states like Texas, Pennsylvania, and Arizona. Its exit may be especially tough on Arizona and South Carolina. At least one Arizona county is at risk of not having a single carrier who will sell there — a situation that Obamacare is unprepared to handle.
Aetna’s exit will make some markets less competitive. But the bigger question is whether other plans will begin to look at the marketplaces differently. They’ve now watched United and Aetna — two of the country's largest insurance plans — decide that the marketplaces were not a good opportunity. And that could give other insurers a reason to pause and reevaluate their options.
To be sure, there are some insurance plans that are succeeding in the Obamacare marketplaces. These are insurers who have experience helping states insure low-income Medicaid patients — not those who have sold contracts to large companies. These insurers had already set up narrow insurance networks that are especially adapted to the needs of lower-income consumers.
But there are also a decent number of losers in the marketplaces. And it’s fair to say that at this point, Obamacare is going through a major test of its viability. It relies on private insurers to willingly participate, and it is not clear they want to keep participating — or at least it is not clear that enough of them want to keep participating to create the nationwide coverage and competition Obamacare envisions.
Aetna’s decision definitely means the Obamacare marketplaces will have significantly less competition in 2017. The insurer was a decently sized player in the individual market, covering 911,000 marketplace enrollees as of April 2016.
The insurer will pull out of some really big states like Texas, Pennsylvania, and Arizona. Its exit may be especially tough on Arizona and South Carolina. At least one Arizona county is at risk of not having a single carrier who will sell there — a situation that Obamacare is unprepared to handle.
Aetna’s exit will make some markets less competitive. But the bigger question is whether other plans will begin to look at the marketplaces differently. They’ve now watched United and Aetna — two of the country's largest insurance plans — decide that the marketplaces were not a good opportunity. And that could give other insurers a reason to pause and reevaluate their options.
To be sure, there are some insurance plans that are succeeding in the Obamacare marketplaces. These are insurers who have experience helping states insure low-income Medicaid patients — not those who have sold contracts to large companies. These insurers had already set up narrow insurance networks that are especially adapted to the needs of lower-income consumers.
But there are also a decent number of losers in the marketplaces. And it’s fair to say that at this point, Obamacare is going through a major test of its viability. It relies on private insurers to willingly participate, and it is not clear they want to keep participating — or at least it is not clear that enough of them want to keep participating to create the nationwide coverage and competition Obamacare envisions.
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