Major health insurance companies – Blue Cross, Aetna, United, Humana – have fled the Obamacare health care exchanges in various states, which are scheduled to start on Oct. 1.
Insurance companies like Aetna and United have said, “thanks, but no thanks” to the public health insurance marketplace set up under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, which will facilitate government subsidies to individuals and small businesses to buy approved health plans to comply with the law.
The ACA requires every American to have health insurance, or pay a penalty. Individuals who are not covered by their employer can enroll in the state or federal government-run health care “marketplace,” which will provide subsidies to individuals between 100 and 400 percent of the poverty line.
Aetna, a fortune 100 company with $34.2 billion in revenue, has pulled out of public exchanges in three states, and will not be part of the individual health insurance exchange in its home base, Connecticut.
This is not startling news. This has been the plan from the start. The intention has been to make it so expensive for insurance companies that they drop out and we develop a single payer (the Fed) insurer. As far as keeping your doctor goes, if he/she is still in business after the dust settles, yes, you probably will be able to go back to them since they will be employed by the Fed. Of course many will have left the industry to practice in another country or to retire. How’s that working out for you who refused to vote your clowns out of office.