I'm trying to figure this out. If you read conservative media outlet headlines this is a clear sign of Obamacare's problems, its failure:
"A Big ObamaCare Exit." That's the Wall Street Journal.
"Getting Set to Pick Up the Pieces of ObamaCare's Collapse," is the New York Post's.
"Deserting ObamaCare: UnitedHealth, nation's largest health insurer, bolts, fears huge losses"-Fox.
"Abandon Ship: UnitedHealth To Exit 'Unsustainable' Obamacare Exchanges In 34 States"-Forbes
This is from the Los Angeles Times, I don't know if they're conservative or...other but is also a columnist's headline, I assume based on similarity of tone that Michael Hiltzik is kin to the above:
"While UnitedHealth pulls the plug on Obamacare, data shows where and why it failed."
Non-conservative media headlines are different. Here's NPR's:
"UnitedHealth To Leave Most Obamacare Exchanges In 2017"
"UnitedHealthcare to exit most Obamacare exchanges"-CNNMONEY
NPR and CNNMONEY employ the same headline writer? That's amazing.
Fox's headline actually conveys the most information but I read CNNMONEY. UnitedHealth is getting out of the Obamacare exchanges because it lost a little under $500 million last year and is projecting it will lose about the same this year. How is that? I thought Obamacare was great for the insurance companies, after all the law "mandates" individuals buy from them! But, CNNMONEY says the people who have bought insurance on the Obamacare exchanges are really using it! That is what ACA intended, lol, but we all know insurance companies count on you not using it. Car insurance is mandated too, right? What happens when you get into an accident and use your car insurance? The insurance companies get maaad, hoo-doggie. And then they drop you or raise your rates.
But under Obamacare the insurance companies can't drop you. Dying of cancer and only months to live? They can't refuse to insure you based on pre-existing conditions. They will charge you so much you'll wish you were dead already but they can't refuse to issue you a policy. Remember? That was a big administration selling point.
There's another distinction between how car insurance operates and how health insurance operates. You really only do use your car insurance when you really need it, like when you get in an accident. But health insurance-we're all into preventive medicine right? Get a check-up yearly! Feeling great? Tough shit, go to the doctor anyway, (s)he'll find something wrong with you!
Get your breasts felt up yearly if you're a woman, get a fist stuck up your ass yearly if you're a man-in the name of detecting breast or prostate cancer. No matter that for most prostate cancers doctors are now advising "wait and monitor" not "when in doubt cut it out," they're still recommending that you get a fist stuck up your ass at least yearly. By a doctor. Right? You have to have a professional feel up your tits or stimulate your prostate, not just some Tom, Dick or Harry off the street! And you have to pay them to do it! Your insurance companies have to pay them to do it. And there's the rub...or the grope. The insurance companies don't want to do that. They're telling women now you can't get your tits felt up yearly or if you do they ain't payin'! I don't know about fisting guys.
Again, this was all the point of Obamacare-from Obama's and congressional Democrats' perspectives: you got it, now use it! But that was really not the point of Obamacare from the insurance companies' perspectives. Much to the companies' chagrin new Obamacare enrollees are using their new insurance at a rate 22% higher than what the companies predicted. So one of them, the largest, UnitedHealth," is "deserting," "abandoning," "bolting." Shares of UnitedHealth rose 1.5% today on news of the bolt.
CNNMONEY says too that this is expected to be bad for...guess who? That's right, Jack, UnitedHealth's bolt is expected to mean that you are going to have to pay more for your Obamacare insurance-one less competitor in the market, and the biggest, and what does one less competitor always mean for you? That's right.
Now, it does not mean that Obamacare "collapsed," "failed," we were always told that as this was a new thing there were going to be "adjustments," the industry would have to see how it went in the early years and adjust their participation according to their lights. CNNMONEY says this is a time of "consolidation" in the health insurance industry. UnitedHealth is getting out and Aetna and Humana are merging and Cigna and Anthem are merging. You know what "consolidation" means right?
"A Big ObamaCare Exit." That's the Wall Street Journal.
"Getting Set to Pick Up the Pieces of ObamaCare's Collapse," is the New York Post's.
"Deserting ObamaCare: UnitedHealth, nation's largest health insurer, bolts, fears huge losses"-Fox.
"Abandon Ship: UnitedHealth To Exit 'Unsustainable' Obamacare Exchanges In 34 States"-Forbes
This is from the Los Angeles Times, I don't know if they're conservative or...other but is also a columnist's headline, I assume based on similarity of tone that Michael Hiltzik is kin to the above:
"While UnitedHealth pulls the plug on Obamacare, data shows where and why it failed."
"UnitedHealth To Leave Most Obamacare Exchanges In 2017"
"UnitedHealthcare to exit most Obamacare exchanges"-CNNMONEY
NPR and CNNMONEY employ the same headline writer? That's amazing.
Fox's headline actually conveys the most information but I read CNNMONEY. UnitedHealth is getting out of the Obamacare exchanges because it lost a little under $500 million last year and is projecting it will lose about the same this year. How is that? I thought Obamacare was great for the insurance companies, after all the law "mandates" individuals buy from them! But, CNNMONEY says the people who have bought insurance on the Obamacare exchanges are really using it! That is what ACA intended, lol, but we all know insurance companies count on you not using it. Car insurance is mandated too, right? What happens when you get into an accident and use your car insurance? The insurance companies get maaad, hoo-doggie. And then they drop you or raise your rates.
But under Obamacare the insurance companies can't drop you. Dying of cancer and only months to live? They can't refuse to insure you based on pre-existing conditions. They will charge you so much you'll wish you were dead already but they can't refuse to issue you a policy. Remember? That was a big administration selling point.
There's another distinction between how car insurance operates and how health insurance operates. You really only do use your car insurance when you really need it, like when you get in an accident. But health insurance-we're all into preventive medicine right? Get a check-up yearly! Feeling great? Tough shit, go to the doctor anyway, (s)he'll find something wrong with you!
Get your breasts felt up yearly if you're a woman, get a fist stuck up your ass yearly if you're a man-in the name of detecting breast or prostate cancer. No matter that for most prostate cancers doctors are now advising "wait and monitor" not "when in doubt cut it out," they're still recommending that you get a fist stuck up your ass at least yearly. By a doctor. Right? You have to have a professional feel up your tits or stimulate your prostate, not just some Tom, Dick or Harry off the street! And you have to pay them to do it! Your insurance companies have to pay them to do it. And there's the rub...or the grope. The insurance companies don't want to do that. They're telling women now you can't get your tits felt up yearly or if you do they ain't payin'! I don't know about fisting guys.
Again, this was all the point of Obamacare-from Obama's and congressional Democrats' perspectives: you got it, now use it! But that was really not the point of Obamacare from the insurance companies' perspectives. Much to the companies' chagrin new Obamacare enrollees are using their new insurance at a rate 22% higher than what the companies predicted. So one of them, the largest, UnitedHealth," is "deserting," "abandoning," "bolting." Shares of UnitedHealth rose 1.5% today on news of the bolt.
CNNMONEY says too that this is expected to be bad for...guess who? That's right, Jack, UnitedHealth's bolt is expected to mean that you are going to have to pay more for your Obamacare insurance-one less competitor in the market, and the biggest, and what does one less competitor always mean for you? That's right.
Now, it does not mean that Obamacare "collapsed," "failed," we were always told that as this was a new thing there were going to be "adjustments," the industry would have to see how it went in the early years and adjust their participation according to their lights. CNNMONEY says this is a time of "consolidation" in the health insurance industry. UnitedHealth is getting out and Aetna and Humana are merging and Cigna and Anthem are merging. You know what "consolidation" means right?
