Insurance companies are providing insurance under Obamacare, not the government. Insurance industry people wrote the legislation.
You can see in the article how this particular insurance company was “at the table” all along promoting Obamacare, leading the charge so to speak, then backed out at the end and created a new subsidiary to participate in the exchange.
If you think about it, once the exchanges are up, insurance companies that are outside of the exchange - can cancel a ton of policies that they don’t make much profit on - and those people “will be able to go to the exchange and buy”.
Now, the article and the comments after describe the subsidiary that will participate in the exchange - it’s going to be able to cut corners like crazy on how much it pays out. But the theory is to get people signed up and paying premiums every month that “can’t get” insurance. Basically, since these people can’t afford much insurance, or perhaps don’t perceive much of a need for themselves, it has to have the option of some low-priced insurance. This will be cheezy ripoff insurance that is cheap because it doesn’t pay much.
This is where so many are confused, IMHO - Obamacare is simply a more heavily regulated insurance market; the government is not functioning as an insurance company.
It’s all aimed at getting everyone to pay as much as possible for healthcare, and at the same time creating a very regulated market where rationing can happen for “the sheeple”. The poor and middle class alike will have as much money sucked out of them as possible. When it comes time for care, the poor will get el cheapo care, the middle class... well... as cheap as they can get away with... the rich... rolls royce care that the little people never see.
If any insurance companies (like the smaller ones) find financial difficulty and go bankrupt, their customers would, of course, be forced over to a surviving bigger company.
“Nationalization” really means a business monopoly; this is just a step along the way, a step that sets up for further “consolidation” and control.
I work in property casualty insurance so I have no dog in this fight. However, let me tell you my experience in my neck of the woods. The government gets these really great ideas -sarc alert- that drive up expenses and then don’t allow companies to make a profit.
I suspect that Blue Cross has finally gotten a clue that although Obamacare means playing footsie with an increasingly powerful administration (and getting some of that power by association), it’s not going to work that way. The administration (Obama) is not into providing good medical care at a reasonable price, they are into socializing medicine and giving you what they want to, not what you want. And if you are part of the working class, charging you a whole bunch for it.
I hope you aren’t an older person, as you are not gonna like your new improved plan to have no access to expensive procedures. And you might think about the last government program or regulatory initiative that went well and was less expensive than stated.
The reason insurance companies are cancelling policies is they cannot make a profit on them with the really stupid changes in coverage. The administration could have made insurance portable and available (needed changes, for sure) without encouraging irresponsible behavior - like getting insurance after you have been diagnosed with a bad disease. But they could give a rats patootie if insurance companies go broke - in fact, that is precisely what they are trying to accomplish.