UnitedHealth may exit Obamacare individual exchanges

republicans control congress now, they can write any bill they want to replace it, republicans are a total failure and do nothing but whine all day

 

Obama's stupid obamacare BS is starting unravel. With this announcement and the fact the price has gone up dramatically, will kill it.

 

United Healthcare is only on the exchanges for 23 states, California was not one of them. They plan to withdraw in 2016

 

Isn't that exactly what the exchange is ?

The exchange is just like a mall mall that is built by the government, the companies competing products aren't controlled by the government

 

Actually, the government is defining the products that have to qualify for the exchanges. Everything is condencing into big plans(pens) as apposed to individuals shopping for diverse plans in a open market(free ranging).

Imo, we are being huddled into large group all inclusive plans by the big providers. This approach to funding healthcare is contrary to market forces. Americans should be building HSA's for general out of pocket shopping and buying insurance for hospitalization issues. Companies should be incentivized to fund HSA's and not provide all inclusive group plans. Obamacare is about forcing those without current employer pens into the government exchange pens.

 

They are doing well now with only 9 million spread between Medicaid and the exchanges. However the fines for not having insurance keep going up.

The fee for not having health insurance in 2016

The fee is calculated 2 different ways – as a percentage of your household income, and per person. You’ll pay whichever is higher.
Percentage of income

2.5% of household income
Maximum: Total yearly premium for the national average price of a Bronze plan sold through the Marketplace

Per person

$695 per adult
$347.50 per child under 18
Maximum: $2,085

The fee for not having coverage in 2015

The penalty for 2015 is the higher of these:

2% of household income
Maximum: Total yearly premium for the national average price of a Bronze plan sold through the Marketplace

OR

$325 per adult
$162.50 per child under 18
Maximum: $975

The fee for not having coverage in 2014

The penalty for 2014 is the higher of these:

1% of household income
Maximum: Total yearly premium for the national average price of a Bronze plan sold through the Marketplace

OR

$95 per adult
$47.50 per child under 18
Maximum: $285

https://www.healthcare.gov/fees/fee-for-not-being-covered/


Many more people will be absolutely forced to sign up. Right now UnitedHealths losses are made up with the reduced compensation they are paying for medical services on those policies. However, there is a tipping point. If a lot of people sign up for next year, the losses would rise while the savings from reduced compensation would remain fixed, soon the losses would eclipse the savings.

 

I'd be more than happy to go over the premium increases prior to the ACA and the premium increass the moment it was passed (doesn't matter if it kicked in)

not long ago I paid 100% prmiums for the individual and 50% toward family plan

I now pay 100% individual only

premiums have risen that much and the coverage is worse

margins have shrunk despite increased top end revenue so it's not something that I can sell our way past because it costs money to increase sales

$50 per week salary increases don't mean much to my folks when their contribution toward the family plan portion is $600 per month

So, I gave salary increases (thanks to folks working harder and not needing to hire 1 more person)

covered the increase in the individual premium

and we all went backwards

that is the Demcorat way

 

It might be that the people who are not signed up are people who wouldn't use the system much as they're younger and healthier. If they join up but use the service less United will actually do better.

 

I have not and will not enroll.

1. If they want me to participate they can take the money from the thousands they already tax from me. I have enough of my damned money taken from me as is.

2. The American Diet (among rampant alcoholism, drug abuse and sedentary lifestyle) is a source of illnesses and diseases that are mostly avoidable through the consumption of health promoting foods that just aren't as popular as our fast food driven nation. Everywhere I look I see sick, bloated or emaciated bodies that are one reason after another to not buy into this system. Let the American people start taking better care of themselves and then I would gladly pay in. But I'm not about to do the the heavy lifting via throwing more money at a problem that has yet to be solved by money.

 

I don't believe that's what's happening. Younger and healthier people are the ones paying the fine.

 

Well we're both speculating a bit. It would be good to know.

But generally speaking the larger the insured pool the lower the cost per participant. If the fines encourage participation then costs should go down.

Personally I think the ACA is a bit of a hash. It's not the best that could be done but I guess you're limited when no one in Washington will work together.

 

For the sake of argument I'll take you at your word, but the truth is the ACA isn't the reason for the increases. Look to your insurance company. Did they HAVE to increase? No but they did. Why? Because they can. Remember they don't care about you, just profit.....Free market.....the Republican way.

 

From what I've read they are working on it, but the failure of this mess lies squarely at the feet of Obama the inept liar

 

FDR made sure there'd be no free market healthcare in the U.S. in the 1930's. We haven't seen true free market healthcare since before then.

I'm not the one who needs to wake up. The problems your leftists ilk were fixing with Obamacare were created by demoquacks 100 years ago. For you the solution to problems created by the government is ALWAYS more government. As the government gets more involved the problems get worse and worse. The solution to the problem is to repeal the laws and allow the free market to take over.

http://www.pnhp.org/facts/a-brief-history-universal-health-care-efforts-in-the-us

"The campaign for some form of universal government-funded health care has stretched for nearly a century in the US"



Is that why we spend so much on defense?[/QUOTE]

 

This whole farce has been meant to fail from the start and get us to single payer.

 

Although I don't disagree with your first statement, the whole idea of driving costs down is having the larger pools that cover more people. That in itself lowers costs for the insurance.

And I agree with your second statement regarding HSA's, but probably for a different reason. Todays health plans are really worthless. My current plan just went up 300%, but this was because my employer is no longer subsidizing the cost. So my plan now with my wife and children is a little over $700 per month, with $1500 deductible per person, and a $9000 max out of pocket. So what that really means is that I would have to pay $9400 before my insurance will pay a penny for any individual. And with a "max out of pocket" of $9000, in realty I will have to pay almost $15,000 before my insurance really pays anything. So the reason I agree with HSA's is that it is better to have a High Deductible plan that pays nothing until the full deductible is met, yet has significantly cheaper premiums. These plans typically dont pay a penny until you reach $5000, but then they kick in at 100% for every dollar after that. Then you keep your HSA at $5000 and your good to go.


The problem for me is that my employer doesn't offer a plan like that, but our benefits company does. We apparently just decided not to have that (makes no sense to me). So like many others, I am stuck paying a lot of money for a (*)(*)(*)(*) plan. These are the same plans that are being offered on the exchanges, and cost most employees less and most people think they are cheaper, but they forget that their employer is usually subsidizing their cost.

 

I'll drink to that.

 

Nancy walked around with the big gavel, the turd wasn't even to take effect for over a year but the insurance companies immediately ratcheted up prices. Not just one company but all, however there is no collusion

Given the mandates, I absolutely expected premiums to shoot through the roof. The law was fashioned to punish the average person. Then when you heap upon it subsidized rates for the idle, the average person again pays for it.

More govt is not the answer and single payer or full blown socialism is not the answer either.

Follow the money trail; insurance firms donate the most to Democrat politicians but the GOP'ers have their hands in that cookie jar as well.

 

Try the exchanges if you want a (*)(*)(*)(*) plan, I know my enhanced silver plan was garbage.

 

All the plans are garbage anymore, that was my point. Blaming Obamacare for a (*)(*)(*)(*) insurance plan is ridiculous. I've shown in this thread that insurance has increased at slower rates since Obamacare, but most of those opposed to Obamacare seem to forget that premiums were raising at unsustainable rates since the late 80's, and coverages have been less and less as the premiums increased. This is NOT new since Obamacare took effect.

Its disingenuous to the debate to blame the cost of Insurance on Obamacare. It is too high, I don't debate that. If we want to have an honest debate on how to fix healthcare, then we have to talk about the costs of healthcare, NOT the cost of insurance. Yes, Insurance companies are gauging to make money, at the same time pharmaceutical companies are gauging, medical equipment manufacturers are gauging, and providers are gauging, but Insurance companies don't provide anything in that chain except pushing paper.

If you want to fix it, then you have to find a way to regulate costs. The number one way in my honest opinion is to change patent laws to allow pharmaceuticals to be manufactured as generics sooner. Pharmaceuticals are the number one driver of increased healthcare costs. Im not against pharmaceutical companies making money, but if you do a little reading on how they actually do R&D, and how they can manipulate the patent system to artificially keep prices high you would probably be amazed.

We can all (*)(*)(*)(*)(*) and moan and blame the left, or blame the right, but until we figure out a way to focus on the real driving factors in the increased costs of healthcare, were all just part of the problem

 

I went full time at work and now have the company sponsored insurance. NO deductibles, NO yearly out of pocket and co pays are $20 for visits, $40 for MRI's and $60 for the ER and hospital stays. My monthly premium is $64 compared to my Obama Care enhanced silver policy was $88 a month, a $2000 deductible and $6400 yearly out of pocket.

BTW not a single Republican voted for Obama Care in both Houses of Congress. Sorry the Democrats own this one.

Rising costs and waiting times put NHS under strain

Even the UK universal health care can't keep up with the rising costs.

 

With all due respect, your argument would be more palatable if you used correct spelling. You are inferring that they are price gouging.

 

So yes, rising costs are what need to be fixed. And so now you have an employer sponsored plan that is cheaper because your employer is subsidizing your premiums, and thats a dem problem ? That was the whole point of my post, its not a dem problem, or a repub problem, its a problem with the entire system. Employer based plans are the same as those being (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)ed about on the exchanges. Huge deductibles, and little to no coverage, and skyrocketing premiums. Everyone in the thread has been posting that the exchange plans are crap, yet almost every employer based plan is the same except for the premium, because the premium is subsidized by the employer.

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Mac autocorrect

 

Your employer seems to actually care about his employees to have a plan with no deductible. Most other employers that are self-insured went with higher deductibles and less coverage.

 

They really are that stupid. Combined with the inherent hate of his own country he is now dangerously incompetent.