Posted on 09/17/2014 6:54:07 PM PDT by markomalley
Obamacare in Minnesota is called MNSure. The state had the usual problems (worse, I believe, than in most states) getting its system and its web site up and running. Once the enrollment period got underway, the dominant insurer turned out to be PreferredOne. Reportedly offering the lowest premiums in the nation, PreferredOne signed up nearly 60% of all MNSure participants. So it was a bombshell when PreferredOne announced earlier this week that it will no longer participate in the state’s exchange, saying that “continuing to provide this coverage through MNsure is not sustainable.”
It seems a foregone conclusion that this will lead to higher premiums, at a minimum. PreferredOne’s decision also calls into question the economic viability of the Obamacare model. State officials tried to downplay the significance of the dominant carrier’s exiting the market:
A day after a key insurance player announced its exit from MNsure, leaders of the state’s insurance exchange called the move a normal evolution of a competitive marketplace and laid out plans to improve the upcoming enrollment period for both consumers and brokers. …
[MNSure CEO Scott Leitz] reiterated that he “fully anticipated” that plans would change from year to year.
“It is a competitive marketplace,” he told the board, “and we don’t pick winners and losers.”
Under Obamacare, you could say that the government only picks winners. Through 2016, taxpayers will subsidize insurance companies’ losses. Such subsidies were considered necessary to induce carriers to participate in the government-sponsored exchanges, despite the likelihood that the risk pool on the exchanges would be unfavorable. The fact that a company with 60% of the Obamacare exchange market considers the business unsustainable, even with federal subsidies, is ominous.
In Minnesota, PreferredOne’s decision will probably continue to reverberate. Individuals with PreferredOne policies purchased on the exchange will see those policies automatically renewed, unless they do something different. The catch is that, with PreferredOne no longer participating in MNSure, those people will no longer be eligible for Obamacare subsidies, so they will see premium increases–in many cases, huge ones.
This sort of thing will keep happening for years to come. Democrats are smugly telling reporters that Obamacare is now an established fact and we should all get used to it. In reality, the law is like a series of bombs timed to go off as various deadlines kick in. Ultimately, the awful economics of the law can’t be denied. Premiums and deductibles will rise, and coverages will shrink, insofar as they are able to given the law’s expansive and sometimes irrational mandates. By 2017, when the federal government will stop reimbursing insurance companies’ losses, premiums will be far higher than when Obamacare went into effect. The Democrats apparently hope that no one will notice. To me, that seems unlikely.
The Minnesota PreferredOne story doesn’t appear to have gotten any national attention, which makes me wonder whether similar developments are occurring around the country, each one only a local news story. Obamacare may be crumbling, one state at a time.
Well that is what I meant. The coverage of the insurance companies’s losses. It is a subsidy that permits the companies to remain in business under an unsustainable business model.
Will the LIV know in time? did it really come out? has local news (don’t watch it) or the strib picked it up?
I expect the am news talkers to pick it up. I expect the FM public radio to ignore it or air the story at 4 AM on a Sunday morning..
Bears repeating!
Regards,
And Obama still can’t get those 46 million people insured.
...and Clown Prince nobama keeps bringing-in more aliens. Criminal. Traitor.
I had to visit an Urgent Care facility in NC and when leaving, walked out with a man who said that they had to come to this clinic because something about Obamacare not being taken at the other facility in town. I said something to the effect of how bad OC was and how it was going to devastate medical care. He stubbornly insisted it was needed and that it would be the best thing for America.
I got in my car and backed out, pulling up beside him as he was walking. I rolled down my window and said, “Do you know what your problem is? You’re a dumbass” and drove off, leaving him standing with his mouth agape.
Hey cableguy! Yeah, I actually first saw it on wcco noon program (LIV news lol). I think the other local fish wraps are running with the headline as well.
They are the stupid.. they don’t know it.. or deny it..
They are among us.. and they vote.. over and over again..
I channeled Red Foreman!!
I try, but never as successful. That’s a special kind of guy, and that would just like my dad.
And yet governor mumbles will win again thanks to Johnson being unable to raise money and mumbles having 100% name recognition.
Now Johnson has hired T-Paw’s chief of staff as latest campaign manager.
Sad.
It’s true. Dave Thompson was on air yesterday talking about that. He has zero name recognition... What’s sad is that Minnesotans are so superficial they won’t vote for someone if they aren’t apart of a political dynasty.
correct
Johnson can’t raise a fraction of the dough Dayton does.
He’s not drawing out of state funding .
Google eye’s rich ex-wife gives him lots as do AFSCME and SEIU unions.
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