The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced today that it planned to reduce the budget to promote health plans available on the ObamaCare exchanges from the roughly $100 million spent during the last open enrollment period to $10 million for the upcoming open enrollment period, which is set to begin on November 1 and end on December 15. There will also be a reduction in funding for Navigators, from $62.5 million last year to $36.8 million this year.
Continuing the theme of ObamaCare repeatedly failing to meet its goals, another report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has come out with more grim news.
Winston Churchill once said, “It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.” The reality that the future is hard to predict, but that has not stopped men and women from trying to do just that. Perhaps one of the best examples of that is the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
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.
Following comments made by Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, who raised “serious concerns about the sustainability” of the ObamaCare exchanges, FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon said:
Following the news the UnitedHealth Group, the largest insurance company in the United States, is scaling back its ObamaCare marketing and considering withdrawing from the exchanges, FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon commented:
Health insurance companies are signaling huge health insurance premium increases ahead of the 2016 open enrollment period. This is due to the droves of older and sicker consumers who signed up for coverage on the ObamaCare Exchanges, according to a report from The New York Times. Requests submitted by insurance are approved by state regulators, such as state insurance commissioners, but the proposed rates reflect a higher utilization of healthcare than expected.