UnitedHealth Group made good on its threat to pull out of ObamaCare markets. The nation's largest health insurance company will pull out of the Arkansas and Georgia ObamaCare markets in 2017. The insurer has not publicly stated why it is leaving the exchanges, but past statements offer some insight into the decision. In short, unbalanced risk pools -- those with older and sicker consumers and a high utilization of coverage -- have led to losses.

In my continuing crusade against the evils of occupational licensure, allies have been hard to come by. Most people take for granted the idea that licensing laws protect consumer welfare against unqualified professionals, and view any challenge to their legitimacy as some form of dangerous lunacy. This is particularly true in the medical profession. While the absurdity of requiring licenses for hair braiders or interior decorators may be relatively easy to convey, medical practice has such a high potential for danger that arguing for any reduction in regulations strikes people are reckless. In a new working paper from the Mercatus institute, however, Edward Timmons joins the fray, demonstrating that many licensing restrictions on medical providers exist not to protect consumer welfare, but to limit competition among doctors, resulting in higher prices and less choice for consumers.

By now, most people realize that the Affordable Care Act has not done much to help bring down the cost of medical care. In fact, insurance plans keep getting more expensive every year. Because of these failings, the administration has consistently had trouble getting people to sign up on the exchanges. Still, there’s one provision of ObamaCare that has remained popular despite its other failings: the requirement that insurers cover preexisting conditions.