GOP uncertainty over Obamacare drives out insurers

Source: Politico

GOP uncertainty over Obamacare drives out insurers
Insurers are fleeing the marketplaces, citing worries about subsidy payments and the individual mandate.
By PAUL DEMKO 06/08/2017 05:11 AM EDT

Obamacare markets are undergoing a slow-motion meltdown as Republicans stoke a climate of uncertainty while struggling to agree on their own plan for overhauling American health care.

The steady march of insurers that have announced plans to exit marketplaces in recent weeks leaves Obamacare customers in wide swaths of the country with potentially no options for purchasing subsidized coverage in 2018. In the latest and most significant blow, Anthem this week announced it will pull out of Ohio next year, leaving at least 18 counties without an insurer selling Obamacare plans.

Republicans characterize their efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare as a “rescue mission,” citing skyrocketing premiums, dwindling competition and lower-than-expected enrollment in many states. “Wave goodbye,” President Donald Trump said of Obamacare in a speech in Ohio on Wednesday, gleefully referring to Anthem’s exit. “What a mess.”

But many health care experts and insurers contend it is Republican actions over the last five months that have turned a difficult situation into an outright emergency that could knock out health insurance coverage for millions of Americans. ... “There was just no way the marketplaces were in a death spiral,” said Larry Levitt, a senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation. “The subsidies are too big a cushion for that to happen.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/08/gop-uncertainty-over-obamacare-drives-out-insurers-239281

---

Hat tip, the Washington Post: (it's one of the articles following the main article):

The Plum Line Opinion
Comey just blew apart a leading GOP talking point about Trump and Russia
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/06/08/comey-just-blew-apart-a-leading-gop-talking-point-about-trump/

....
* GOP SABOTAGE OF OBAMACARE IS WORKING: Republicans keep citing insurers pulling out of markets as proof that the Affordable Care Act is collapsing. But Politico reports that the Trump/GOP refusal to commit to continued cost-sharing reductions is the real problem:

Many health care experts and insurers contend it is Republican actions over the last five months that have turned a difficult situation into an outright emergency that could knock out health insurance coverage for millions of Americans … Most significantly, the Trump administration’s refusal to commit to continue paying crucial subsidies — estimated at $7 billion for this year — has made health plans skittish about remaining in the marketplaces as crucial deadlines approach for 2018.

GOP sabotage is having its intended effect (never mind that millions may be hurt). But majorities say the GOP is to blame for any future problems, so maybe this isn’t such a brilliant strategy.