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In a press release published on Tuesday afternoon, Humana, one of the United States’ largest health insurers, announced that it will be withdrawing from all Obamacare exchanges come 2018. According to The Hill, “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.” This is the latest blow to the disastrous health care law and the Big Three networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) completely ignored it. {..snip..}

Crumbling down around us Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard about the proposed merger between health insurance giants Aetna and Humana. It was big news throughout the last year. That plan has now disintegrated, and both companies are re-jiggering their plans as they move on separately. If you think ObamaCare is part of that scenario, think again. Last August, we learned of Aetna’s intentions for the ACA exchanges, and now we know Humana intends to follow suit.

The collapse of Obamacare continues apace. Earlier today I wrote about the dissolution of two health insurance mega-mergers including the one between Aetna and Humana. This afternoon, Humana announced its plans for moving forward as an independent entity. Those plans do not include participating in Obamacare exchanges next year: Regarding the companyÂ’s individual commercial medical coverage (Individual Commercial), substantially all of which is offered on-exchange through the federal Marketplaces, Humana has worked over the past several years to address market and programmatic challenges in order to keep coverage options available wherever it could offer a viable product. This has...

Tennessee is ground zero for ObamaCare’s nationwide implosion. Late last month the state insurance commissioner, Julie Mix McPeak, approved premium increases of up to 62% in a bid to save the exchange set up under the Affordable Care Act. “I would characterize the exchange market in Tennessee as very near collapse,” she said. Then last week BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee announced it would leave three of the state’s largest exchange markets—Nashville, Memphis and Knoxville. “We have experienced losses approaching $500 million over the course of three years on ACA plans,” the company said, “which is unsustainable.” As a result, more...

UnitedHealthcare, Humana—and now Aetna—are abandoning Obamacare exchanges because they’re unprofitable. Meanwhile, for the first time in 10 years, the U.S. death rate has increased. CDC researcher Andrew Fenelon told the Associated Press: “…it is quite rare to see it [a death rate increase] for the whole population. … Many countries in Europe are witnessing declines in mortality, so the gap between the U.S. and other countries is growing.” For 80 percent of the past decade, President Obama has been president. Obamacare was unconstitutionally rammed through Congress on Christmas Eve of 2009. Isn’t it interesting that in 2016—with Obamacare in full...

Aetna, the No. 3 U.S. health insurer, on Monday said that due to persistent financial losses on Obamacare plans, it will sell individual insurance on the government-run online marketplaces in only four states next year, down from the current 15 states. Aetna's decision follows similar moves from UnitedHealth and Humana, which have cited similar concerns about financial losses on these exchanges created under President Barack Obama's national healthcare reform law.

... Now, however, it appears a large reason for the shift in tone was the Department of Justice's lawsuit to block Aetna's merger with rival Humana. A July letter, acquired by The Huffington Post, outlined Aetna's thinking on the public exchanges if the deal with Humana were blocked. The letter from Bertolini to the DOJ outlined the effect of a possible merger on its Obamacare business. ...

The health insurance exchanges that are the beating heart of Obamacare are on the edge of collapse, with premiums rising sharply for ever narrower provider networks, non-profit health co-ops shuttering their doors, and even the biggest insurance companies heading for the exits amid mounting losses. Even the liberal Capitol Hill newspaper is warning of a possible “Obamacare meltdown” this fall. Three states — Alaska, Alabama, and Wyoming — are already down to just a single insurance company, as are large parts of several other states, totaling at least 664 counties. UnitedHealth is pulling out completely, Humana is pulling out of...

Humana, one of the largest health care providers in the country, has made the decision to eventually leave the vast majority of the Obamacare markets. Out of the 23 Obamacare co-ops that were established only seven remain, virtually all of them under threat of folding by the end of this year.

More than 92,000 Coloradans will lose their Obamacare health care coverage in 2017 as four leading insurance companies scale back or eliminate their plans while others propose rate hikes of as much as 40 percent. Insurance holders with individual plans through Anthem, UnitedHealthCare, Humana and Rocky Mountain Health Plans will need to find new coverage for the 2017 coverage year, according to a Monday statement from the Colorado Division of Insurance. ... the news came as a devastating blow to the state’s already-shaky insurance market. Colorado is one of 14 states that opted to launch its own Obamacare exchange instead...

Humana wasn't kidding when it hinted last week of big premium hikes for 2017 in those ObamaCare markets where it remains. This year, the nation's fifth-largest insurer offers the cheapest bronze and silver plans in Michigan's largest market, including Detroit. But Humana has filed for a 50% premium hike for its low-cost silver plan. Meanwhile, Humana wants a 38% premium increase for its lowest-cost bronze plan. So far only Oregon, where insurers are requesting an average 27% premium hike, and Virginia, where insurers want an 18% hike, are the only two states to make all rate filings available.

Health Reform: It wasn’t that long ago when ObamaCare fans were wagging their fingers at critics, saying industry profits proved that the law was working. They’ve been noticeably silent as insurers report huge losses.

The misbegotten mess known as the Patient Deflection and Unaffordable Care Act is really starting to collapse: Humana said it will discontinue several products offered on government-run exchanges under the Affordable Care Act, impacting about 100,000 individuals currently covered by the insurer's plans across the country. The move, disclosed this morning in the company's third-quarter earnings report, comes due to higher-than expected medical costs from sick newly insured patients covered under the health law."Operating results for the company's individual commercial medical business continue to be challenged primarily due to the volatility related to the start of the healthcare exchange...

In another merger of health insurance giants, Anthem has agreed to acquire Cigna in a $54 billion deal. Anthem (ANTM), a Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurer, said it would buy all of Cigna's (CI)shares in a cash and stock transaction. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2016, if it passes state regulatory approvals and other requirements. The merged insurer would cover 53 million members. The merger would leave only three major players in the insurance industry. Earlier this month, Aetna (AET) struck a deal to buy Humana (HUM) for $37 billion, which would cover...

Anthem said on Friday it would buy Cigna in a deal valued at $54.2 billion, creating the largest U.S. health insurer. Cigna shareholders will get $103.40 per share in cash and 0.5152 Anthem shares. The deal comes three weeks after Aetna struck a deal to buy Humana for $37 billion and is part of an industry-wide consolidation of the health insurance industry following the roll-out of the Obama government's health-care reform law.

Aetna has reached a $37 billion deal to buy Humana. A news release from the two companies says Aetna will acquire all outstanding shares of Humana for a combination of cash and stock valued at approximately $230 per share. The deal was unanimously approved by the board of directors....

OUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- WDRB News has obtained an e-mail message that was distributed to Humana employees this morning, after news of a proposed sale of Humana to Aetna became public. The e-mail was from Bruce Broussard, the president and CEO of Humana. The text of that e-mail is reproduced below: (Click HERE to also view a FAQ that was distributed to stakeholders.) A Message from Bruce Broussard Today marks an important and exciting day in our company’s history. We have just announced that Aetna and Humana will merge to create a new healthcare organization. While there are many reasons...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell issued a statement Friday morning, saying he predicted the "type of consolidation" exhibited by the proposed sale of Humana to Aetna and pointed to the Affordable Care Act as the root cause. McConnell's statement reads as follows: "For more than 30 years, Humana has been a cornerstone of economic growth and a great philanthropic partner in our community. This morning’s announcement, as I predicted during the debate five years ago, is the inevitable result of Obamacare’s push toward consolidation as doctors, hospitals, and insurers merge in response to an ever-growing government."

The five largest publicly traded health insurance companies (UnitedHealth, Anthem,1 Aetna, Humana and Cigna) — all of which were party to an amicus brief in support of the subsidies filed by America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group for insurance companies — rose an average of 1 percent over their opening prices by 11 a.m. Thursday. The bounce started at approximately 10:10 a.m., right when SCOTUSblog first announced the Supreme Court’s decision. All five companies. That rise amounted to a $3 billion increase in the combined market capitalization of the five companies.

Humana Inc., the nation's fourth-largest health insurer by market share, warned Thursday that the risk pool of applicants for insurance through President Obama's health care law would be worse than previously expected. Ever since the botched rollout of the health care law's exchanges in October, the policy community has been eager to know more about the mix of individuals signing up for insurance through the law. Because the law forces insurers to cover those with pre-existing conditions, insurers need to attract a critical mass of young and healthy individuals with lower medical costs into the exchanges to offset the cost....