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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.
Arkansas' experiment with Medicaid expansion under ObamaCare is quickly becoming a train wreck for taxpayers. State officials have failed to determine that beneficiaries of the program are still eligible to participate in the government health insurance program, potentially wasting millions of dollars. Knowing how government operates, it is likely that Arkansas is not the only state to fail to do its due diligence.
Obamacare proponents would like you to believe that Medicaid expansion is "free" to the states and "free" to the people who go on the program. But like everything else, it has costs. While the federal government promises to cover most of the cost of the expansion, they've already made 17 trillion other promises.
An important vote is coming up in the U.S. Senate that could help shape the climate change debate. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) has introduced a resolution of disapproval to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency’s “endangerment” finding, which allows the EPA to treat carbon dioxide (CO2) as a pollutant and therefore regulate it under the Clean Air Act. This is the Obama Administration’s way of setting the stage for cap and trade.
I know that you, like us, have been watching the healthcare debate very closely. If you haven’t already heard, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will be unveiling his $900 billion healthcare plan at the Capitol today, at noon, and plans to bring it to the floor of the Senate over the next several days.
FreedomWorks Foundation, American Legislative Exchange Council, Tea Party Patriots and Committee to Unleash Prosperity in partnership with a coalition of conservative organizations and prominent individuals, launched the Save Our Country Task Force.