Major insurer may leave ObamaCare

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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 industrywide," 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.

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Nation's largest insurer may exit Obamacare due to losses

 

 

UnitedHealth Group, the largest insurance company in the U.S., on Thursday slashed its earnings outlook, citing new problems related to Obamacare, and told investors it may exit the program's exchanges.

 

"In recent weeks, growth expectations for individual exchange participation have tempered industrywide, co-operatives have failed, and market data has signaled higher risks and more difficulties while our own claims experience has deteriorated," Stephen J. Hemsley, chief executive officer of UnitedHealth Group, said in a press release.

 

The release added that, "UnitedHealthcare has pulled back on its marketing efforts for individual exchange products in 2016. The company is 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."

 

The company said it expects "earnings pressure" of $425 million, which "is driven by projected losses on individual exchange-compliant products related to the 2015 and 2016 policy years."

 

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/nations-largest-insurer-may-exit-obamacare-due-to-losses/article/2576726

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Health insurance stocks plummet on Obamacare fears

 

Health insurance stocks plummeted on Thursday after the nation's largest insurer slashed its profit forecast due to massive losses from Obamacare.

 

UnitedHealth Group, which warned that its earnings would take a $425 million hit, primarily due to worse than expected results from participating in the Obamacare insurance exchanges, saw its stock price fall $4.75, or more than 4 percent, to $112.46 in mid-morning trading.

 

Shares of Anthem, which has a larger footprint in the exchanges, saw its shares fall even further — down $9.41, or nearly 7 percent, to $127.89.

 

Among other major insurers, Aetna was down nearly 5 percent, Cigna was down over 4 percent, and Humana was down about 3 percent.

 

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/health-insurance-stock-dives-on-ocare-fears/article/2576741

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If UnitedHealth Can't Make It Under ObamaCare, Who Can?

 

ObamaCare: United Healthcare's surprise warning that it may scrap participation in federal health care exchanges is more than bad news for consumer choice. It's a broader sign of an unsustainable system.

 

The nation's largest health insurance provider surprised the markets Thursday by saying losses from its 550,000 individual ObamaCare exchange enrollments were sharply cutting its bottom line. That's notable because ObamaCare exchange participation only forms a small slice of the $105 billion company by market capitalization.

 

Yet it was enough to make the giant company and all the value it creates throughout its many operations suffer enough to trigger, as IBD market reporter Jed Graham wrote, "a surge of red ink."

 

The company forecast $425 million less revenue in the fourth quarter and cut its full-year 2015 earnings-per-share forecast to $6 from $6.25-$6.35.

 

Not surprisingly, its stock fell 5.6% by the close of trading Thursday, and other health care and hospital companies such as Aetna, Anthem, Tenet, Cigna, Humana and HCA took similar hits.

 

"We see no data pointing to improvement," UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen Helmsley said on a conference call. Patients, he explained, were using their plans more than the company had anticipated and, worse still, were dropping coverage when they got well.

 

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-obama-care/111915-781699-if-unitedhealth-cant-make-it-under-obamacare-who-can.htm

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Will other insurers bail out of Obamacare?

 

UnitedHealth Group's threatened exit next year from Obamacare raises a dark question that could determine the future of President Obama's healthcare law: Will other insurers follow suit?

It would be a sharp ding to Obama's signature healthcare law should the nation's largest insurer decide to stop selling plans through the law's online marketplaces. United said Thursday it is considering pulling out after the current enrollment season ends in January, citing major losses from the Obamacare plans.

"We cannot sustain these losses," CEO Stephen Hemsley said on a conference call. "We can't really subsidize a marketplace that doesn't appear at the moment to be sustaining itself."

 

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/will-other-insurers-bail-out-of-obamacare/article/2576806