Author Topic: Major insurer may leave ObamaCare  (Read 6304 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Christians4LessGvt

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11139
    • View Profile
    • "The Religion Of Peace"
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Major insurer may leave ObamaCare
« on: November 19, 2015, 06:20:39 PM »


Major insurer may leave ObamaCare

By Sarah Ferris - 11/19/15



One of the country's largest health insurers warned Thursday that it may leave the ObamaCare exchanges within two years, delivering a shock announcement that could ripple through the marketplace.

At a shareholder meeting Thursday, UnitedHealthcare cast doubt on its ability to carry plans on the healthcare law's exchanges beyond 2016, offering a more grim financial outlook than it had previously expected.

"In recent weeks, growth expectations for individual exchange participation have tempered industry-wide," said Stephen Hemsley, the company's CEO.

"Co-operatives have failed, and market data has signaled higher risks and more difficulties while our own claims experience has deteriorated, so we are taking this proactive step," he said.

The company's statement said it will be "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."

It also projected that its fourth-quarter revenue will be $425 million less than expected, amounting to 26 cents in earnings per share.

The company also announced it has "pulled back" on marketing plans for 2016.

Hemsley's mention of the ObamaCare co-operatives, or co-ops, refers to the half-dozen startup insurers that have collapsed in the past few weeks.

Opponents of the healthcare law have seized on the closure of the co-op insurers, which were intended to increase competition, and highlighted the troubles in hearings on Capitol Hill.

Fewer than half of the original 23 co-ops are still running, and only a handful are on solid financial footing.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/260758-unitedhealthcare-may-exit-obamacare-exchanges
"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" - Ronald Reagan - June 12, 1987

Plane

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 26993
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Major insurer may leave ObamaCare
« Reply #1 on: November 19, 2015, 07:13:09 PM »
  Somewhen in the future , when the Smoot-Hawley tariff and the Dred Scott decision and the battle of the Little Big horn are studied as examples of how to   not    do things, Obamacare will be on the syllabus for a week.

Xavier_Onassis

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 27916
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Major insurer may leave ObamaCare
« Reply #2 on: November 19, 2015, 10:20:53 PM »
No.

Obamacare will be like the first trips on the Union Pacific to California. Something to be improved upon that would never have existed in any form if Republican'ts had been in charge.
"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana."

Plane

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 26993
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Major insurer may leave ObamaCare
« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2015, 06:57:53 PM »
No.

Obamacare will be like the first trips on the Union Pacific to California. Something to be improved upon that would never have existed in any form if Republican'ts had been in charge.

Why do you think this?

Better than 80% felt well served by health insurance before Obamacare?

How long will Obamacare take to reach 80% approval?

If ever.

It was foolish to smash a working system and replace it with a hastily composed one, even if it is intended as a framework for improvement.

What prevents improvement without smashing the imperfect and mostly good system?

Hasn't it long been said that the worst enemy of good is perfection?

kimba1

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8008
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Major insurer may leave ObamaCare
« Reply #4 on: November 22, 2015, 06:37:28 PM »
well Im not one of those who can say insurance before obamacare was better. I was denied coverage for having a fatal pre-existing condition. at best I can get coverage as long it has nothing to do with my condition and thats with a job.

here`s where i`m a hypacrite. I will do eveything to not get obamacare. It`s just too new and too shabbily written for me. this very post is proof of this. what gets my goat is that thiers a much larger issue which nobody will address and zero effort.

hearthcare cost too much and insurance is totaly and completely not the answer.  childbirth should not be this costly. the margin  fatality to do without a doctor is quite small sometimes worst with a doctor.

Plane

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 26993
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Major insurer may leave ObamaCare
« Reply #5 on: November 22, 2015, 07:13:27 PM »
The MDA and the Insurance companies form a powerful lobby , they hold forth for high standards of quality and requirement s for training.

They also keep fees and prices high , preventing lesser trained technicians and midwives from acting without supervision protecting monopoly and splitting fees with specialists.

Perhaps there will come a day that a lot of a Doctors functions can be automated or handled by robots. Deep Blue is a system that could be made into a competent diagnostician.

Surgeons jobs are probably safe until sometime after someone designs a robot that can fold a shirt.

   Also we could train a lot of Nurses that would have more freedom to make diagnoses and prescribe medicine , these half -doctors might have a lesser college degree and   would defer and refer to fully fledged doctors when necessary. If we do this would not be our invention.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barefoot_doctor
http://glasshospital.com/2015/04/05/barefoot-doctors/



Quote
One concept worth learning about if you’ve never heard of it: “Barefoot Doctors.” Founding Premier Mao Zedong unleashed these “paramedical” folks into the countryside in the 1960s to offer help with prevention and primary care. One result: a stunning drop in infant mortality. The analogue in our own age is the concept of the community health worker, something that has garnered press and continues to be an alluring possible solution to our own problems of translating medical knowledge gains out into our communities.

Xavier_Onassis

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 27916
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Major insurer may leave ObamaCare
« Reply #6 on: November 22, 2015, 07:34:47 PM »
We did NOT have a system that worked for 30% of the population.
United Healthcare sponsored my first Medicare Advantage HMO, allied with AARP. I had no objections, but they sent me a lett0er saying that they were discontinuing my plan and  they said nothing about offering another plan. So I enrolled in Humana, which is also pretty good. I like the options of the Silver Sneaker exercise program, even though there are never more than three men and often no men present.

Two weeks after I signed up with Humana, United Healthcare sent me a  description of a new plan, which was almost entirely like the previou8sl one, only not sponsored by AARP.

So I think it is possible that United Healthcare uses this tactic of threatening to quit to get bigger benefits of something.

And now AARP offers an HMO Advantage plan using United Healthcare.
\\It makes little sense for them to do this? I was certainly a profitable customer.
"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana."

sirs

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 27078
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Major insurer may leave ObamaCare
« Reply #7 on: November 23, 2015, 02:41:25 AM »
well Im not one of those who can say insurance before obamacare was better. I was denied coverage for having a fatal pre-existing condition. at best I can get coverage as long it has nothing to do with my condition and thats with a job.

here`s where i`m a hypacrite. I will do eveything to not get obamacare. It`s just too new and too shabbily written for me. this very post is proof of this. what gets my goat is that thiers a much larger issue which nobody will address and zero effort.

hearthcare cost too much and insurance is totaly and completely not the answer.  childbirth should not be this costly. the margin  fatality to do without a doctor is quite small sometimes worst with a doctor.

And I can totally sympathize with that position, Kimba.  Had Congress worked on addressing that specific issue, one of pre-existing conditions, we could easily have had a bi-partisan proposal, that would have addressed your needs, while still providing the vast majority of the rest of the country a system they were perfectly content with....in particular the ability to keep their Doctor(s) and their Plans, if they liked them

The thing is, that's not what Obamacare was about, and never was.  While there may have been a handful of folks who were enthralled and supported the notion of universal healthcare, the crux of Obamacare, as validated by its complete 1 party alone passage, was to gut the private care system, and force more people into having to rely on the Government.  They could try to play the #'s game, and even bald face lie about how it would "bring down healthcare costs", but ultimately that was never a part of the plan.  In order for Democrats to stay in power, more people must support Government services.  And there's no better way than that, than mandating healthcare coverage, dictated by the Government
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

Christians4LessGvt

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11139
    • View Profile
    • "The Religion Of Peace"
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Major insurer may leave ObamaCare
« Reply #8 on: November 23, 2015, 07:58:45 AM »
It was foolish to smash a working system and replace it with a hastily composed one,
even if it is intended as a framework for improvement.

very well said Plane!
"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" - Ronald Reagan - June 12, 1987

Christians4LessGvt

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11139
    • View Profile
    • "The Religion Of Peace"
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Major insurer may leave ObamaCare
« Reply #9 on: November 23, 2015, 08:12:12 AM »
Perhaps there will come a day that a lot of a Doctors functions can be automated or handled by robots.

Plane it's already happening....


J&J's Sedasys Puts Challenge to Anesthesiologists

Anesthesiologists typically charge $600 to $2,000 for their involvement.
Sedasys would cost about $150 a procedure.

http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2013/09/26/jjs-sedasys-puts-challenge-to-anesthesiologists/
"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" - Ronald Reagan - June 12, 1987

Xavier_Onassis

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 27916
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Major insurer may leave ObamaCare
« Reply #10 on: November 23, 2015, 07:23:58 PM »
I had a colonoscopy last year. The anesthesiologist may have spent 15 minutes with me. She was very nice and professional. So were all the people there.

My Humana Advantage paid for the whole thing. The "official" price was four times the amount that the insurance company paid.
Medical care is grotesquely overpriced. There is no competition for those that have no insurance.

If you have a stroke or an accident, you cannot bargain for a lower price. The hospital will not even reveal the cost of any procedure in most cases.

Capitalism does not work in healthcare. It does not even work worth a damn with prescriptions. "We do not give prices over the phone, sir, you will have to come in" And wait in line behind another dozen people. Only power of government can force reasonable prices. 
"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana."

Plane

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 26993
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Major insurer may leave ObamaCare
« Reply #11 on: November 23, 2015, 09:18:53 PM »


 "We do not give prices over the phone, sir, you will have to come in" And wait in line behind another dozen people. Only power of government can force reasonable prices.

Woah I don't like that.

I would definitely go to some other Pharmacies first.

Preventing competition whether in cost or in excellence should be considered un-American.

Plane

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 26993
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Major insurer may leave ObamaCare
« Reply #12 on: November 23, 2015, 09:20:50 PM »
We did NOT have a system that worked for 30% of the population.


Where do you get this estimate?

Seems high .

Plane

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 26993
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Major insurer may leave ObamaCare
« Reply #13 on: November 23, 2015, 09:26:56 PM »
I had a colonoscopy last year. The anesthesiologist may have spent 15 minutes with me. She was very nice and professional. So were all the people there.

My Humana Advantage paid for the whole thing. The "official" price was four times the amount that the insurance company paid.
Medical care is grotesquely overpriced. There is no competition for those that have no insurance.

If you have a stroke or an accident, you cannot bargain for a lower price. The hospital will not even reveal the cost of any procedure in most cases.

Capitalism does not work in healthcare. It does not even work worth a damn with prescriptions. "We do not give prices over the phone, sir, you will have to come in" And wait in line behind another dozen people. Only power of government can force reasonable prices.

     Capitalism could work better than it does.
      The insurance companies should be negotiating price , and monitoring quality.

       The insurance companies have the clout and the interest , more than the government does.

Xavier_Onassis

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 27916
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Major insurer may leave ObamaCare
« Reply #14 on: November 23, 2015, 10:42:50 PM »
Hospitals do not like to give figures for procedures or operations. It keeps the Business Office from getting creative.
They bill for medicine not dispensed, materials not used, and time.
When my father died, the hospital billed him for the day after he died. he left the building at 10:00 in the morning on the 16th, and they charged for the 17th.
"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana."