Obamacare Impact: Another Insurer Leaves California Market
Chris Jacobs /
Newscom
The Los Angeles Times reports this morning on another disturbing Obamacare-related development in California:
The nation’s largest health insurer, UnitedHealth Group Inc., is leaving California’s individual health insurance market, the second major company to exit in advance of major changes under [Obamacare].
Due to UnitedHealth’s decision, thousands of individuals will be forced to find a new health insurance option. However, those options keep dwindling; as the article notes, today’s development comes just a few weeks after Aetna announced it was also pulling out of the California market, leaving nearly 50,000 California residents searching for new health coverage.
Even advocates of Obamacare could not hide their dismay about today’s development. As the Times article notes:
The departure of another big-name insurer raised concerns about the effect of reduced competition on California consumers. “I don’t think this is a good result for consumers,” said California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. “It means less choice, less competition and even more consolidation of the individual market with three big carriers.”
However, as The Wall Street Journal reported last month, these two California announcements could represent merely the leading edge of bad news for policyholders: “Insurance-industry experts say similar moves by other carriers in other states may emerge in coming months, as companies with limited market share decide to avoid the uncertainty tied to [Obamacare’s] changes.”
Recall that in 2008, then-Senator Obama promised that “for those who have insurance now, nothing will change under the Obama plan—except that you will pay less.” Recall too that the Obama Administration intends to use California as “proof that [Obamacare] is working.” Obamacare is working, all right—but not exactly as promised. A month’s worth of stories about skyrocketing premiums and thousands losing their health insurance demonstrates how Obamacare’s supposed “success story” is shaping up to be a significant failure.