ACA/Obamacare: Goodbye Humana, Hello Accelerating Death Spiral

“Health insurance company Humana announced Tuesday that it would leave the ObamaCare market in 2018. The insurer said it would offer plans through 2017, but that the market has not stabilized enough to participate next year. Humana said it was losing money from taking on too many sick people without enough healthy people to balance the pools. The decision came after Humana scaled back participation and raised premiums, among other changes. "All of these actions were taken with the expectation that the company’s Individual Commercial business would stabilize to the point where the company could continue to participate in the program," the company said in a statement. "However, based on its initial analysis of data associated with the company’s healthcare exchange membership following the 2017 open enrollment period, Humana is seeing further signs of an unbalanced risk pool." - Death Spiral: Humana Completely Abandoning Obamacare Marketplaces After 2017, townhall.com, 02/15/2017

Link to the entire article appears below:

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2017/02/15/death-spiral-humana-completely-abandoning-obamacare-marketplaces-after-2017-n2286358

ACA/Obamacare: The Incredible Shrinking Selection

“Humana will stop marketing Obamacare exchange plans in several states next year and will exit many off-exchange individual markets as well, the company announced today.

The decision means the company will only offer individual plans in 156 counties in 11 states, down from 1,351 counties across 19 states this year. It had sold plans on Affordable Care Act exchanges in 15 states this year.” - Humana pulling out of many Obamacare markets, Politico, 07/21/2016

Link to the entire article appears below:

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/humana-obamacare-markets-225963

ACA/Obamacare: Humana Reportedly Exiting Obamacare After Suffering Major Losses

“Humana Inc. has added its name to the list of mega-medical insurers to report big problems under ObamaCare.

The Louisville, Ky.- based company does not expect to make enough money this year in premiums from individual plans to cover what it will pay out in claims, according to a regulatory filing made last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Humana, which is being acquired by Aetna Inc., said it is still trying to figure out how big the gap will be. The company did say it has set aside a premium deficiency reserve – meaning, it’s setting aside money to help make up the difference.

Humana, which will provide a deeper dive into its 2016 outlook when it releases its fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 10, said in the SEC filing that it expects membership to drop this year by 200,000 to 300,000. The decrease reflects plans sold under ObamaCare as well as older policies.

“We expect Humana will exit Health Insurance Exchange marketplaces in 2017 in light of this data, and focus on its Medicare Advantage book of business,” Leerink Partners analyst Ana Gupte said in a research note on Friday.” - Humana latest insurer to have big problems under ObamaCare, 01/13/2016, foxnews.com

Link to the entire story appears below:


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/01/13/humana-latest-insurer-to-have-big-problems-under-obamacare.html