Comment: Remember how Obamacare would save money by “increasing competition”? Instead we have the opposite–even the biggest, healthiest established companies, who’ve served Americans for decades, can’t make it work.
That’s by design. Before any legislation hit paper, activists plotted the destruction of the health insurance industry, seeking to craft a bill that would ‘make insurers wither on the vine’. Now we see what’s in it:
Less competition. Higher cost. Obamacare.
“A number of the major players in health insurance have reported losses from their ACA business, with detrimental results for those who sell their products under the health law. United Healthcare led the charge when it announced it would stop paying sales commissions to agents who sell the company’s health policies under the ACA. … United Healthcare officials projected the company would lose $500 million on its ACA business in 2016.”
“In Pennsylvania, Highmark eliminated broker commissions in the northeast part of the state and slashed commissions elsewhere to $6 from $15- to $25 per-member-per-month. UPMC Health Plan cut broker commissions on individual policies by one-third.”
“Anthem announced its fourth-quarter profits tumbled by 64 percent as a result of climbing expenses. Aetna reported that is [sic] lost more than $100 million last year on its exchange business, and in North Carolina, Blue Cross Blue Shield said that it may leave the ACA market in that state after suffering $400 million in losses. All three insurers on the federal insurance exchange have eliminated agent commissions for selling individual policies under the ACA in North Carolina. This situation led North Carolina’s insurance commissioner, Wayne Goodwin, to write a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, outlining his concerns about the future of the health law in his state.”
Congress Refuses ACA Funding, Slams Insurance Agents In The Wallet
By Susan Rupe InsuranceNewsNet, Feb. 11, 2016