Humana abandoning Obamacare
Finding out what’s in it. Humana, one of the nation’s largest heathcare companies, has decided to leave almost half of its Obamacare markets next year.
Humana, one of the nation’s top health insurers, is pulling out of ObamaCare plans in all but a handful of states after a year of nearly $1 billion in losses. The company plans to exit nearly half of its Obamacare markets next year, the company announced during an earnings report Thursday. It will take part in “no more” than 11 state marketplaces, down from 19 states this year, the company said. [emphasis mine]
Remember, it was the insurance companies that lobbied the hardest for Obamacare, figuring they would clean up once the government forced everyone to buy their product. In looking at the numbers above, $1 billion in loses in one year alone, it sure seems that strategy has backfired big time on the insurance companies.
Then again, how could they have possibly known this would happen? No one anticipated this at all, except for those evil tea partiers and those racist conservatives. And who listens to them?
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Finding out what’s in it. Humana, one of the nation’s largest heathcare companies, has decided to leave almost half of its Obamacare markets next year.
Humana, one of the nation’s top health insurers, is pulling out of ObamaCare plans in all but a handful of states after a year of nearly $1 billion in losses. The company plans to exit nearly half of its Obamacare markets next year, the company announced during an earnings report Thursday. It will take part in “no more” than 11 state marketplaces, down from 19 states this year, the company said. [emphasis mine]
Remember, it was the insurance companies that lobbied the hardest for Obamacare, figuring they would clean up once the government forced everyone to buy their product. In looking at the numbers above, $1 billion in loses in one year alone, it sure seems that strategy has backfired big time on the insurance companies.
Then again, how could they have possibly known this would happen? No one anticipated this at all, except for those evil tea partiers and those racist conservatives. And who listens to them?
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Related tangent but the source article is behind a paywall at the Wall Street Journal. (7-22-16)
In brief, 2 major points;
-There are mergers currently proposed between the likes of United Health, Cigna, Humana, and others & sorry.. but I am not recalling who-wants-to-buy-whom. It apparently has the effect of turning the top 8 insurers, into 5. (they need to consolidate, to cut “duplication” of services and “divest” of “legacy expenses.” > that’s ominous…)
-Antitrust division of the DOJ filed suit today, hoping to block at least 2 mergers, on the grounds it will impede “the current high quality & cost savings under the ACA,” & violate antitrust laws in general. (how ironic is that– think about it.)
Top 2 insurers, each manage roughly 30-40 million accounts. And interestingly, but not unexpectedly, each wants to exit as many Obamacare “exchanges” as they can, each lost about 1 billion in the past 1-2 years, but each makes money on their non-exchange policies. Each book about 100 billion gross/year, and their mandated pay-out is like 82%, (or in other words, they get to keep roughly 18% for administration) (and that pay-out rate ratchet ups over time) on-average. Payouts on exchange-policies are something like 150% (they lose 50 cents on the dollar)
It’s a massive cross-(tri)-subsidy (across time & space, “everybody”) between regular group policies, the government “exchange” variants & associated subsidies, and straight Medicaid/Medicare policies.
The incentives are perverse, & cash-flows, are all in the wrong direction.
A fairly good article, clarifying my previous babble
http://ctmirror.org/2016/07/21/justice-dept-sues-to-block-aetna-humana-anthem-cigna-mergers/
Loretta Lynch to the rescue…or something.
We are through the Looking Glass.