UnitedHealth doesn’t spell the end of Obamacare

Anthem CEO Joseph Swedish said the insurer wants to continue to speak with “policymakers and regulators regarding how we can improve the stability of the individual market”.

The insurer backed its full-year 2015 earnings forecast.

The company said it would expand into 11 more exchanges next year after growing from four to 24 in 2015.

Over at Anthem, membership this year is expected to grow by at least 800,000 people, and that growth contributed to a 7.6% increase in operating revenue to $19.8 billion.

Aetna shares, which had fallen 7% Thursday, closed up 4.6% Friday at $104.43.

If UnitedHealth Group does opt out of offering plans on the exchanges, it could create a big gap to fill, significantly reduce competition in certain markets, and effectively lead to other insurers increasing their premiums by more than they would have otherwise. The House of Representatives and the Senate will also have a say in repealing the law, something that will likely depend on which party is in power. UnitedHealth Group Inc.is not just the biggest health insurer in the United States, it is also No. 14 on the Fortune 500 list.

UnitedHealth’s disclosure of troubles with ObamaCare exchanges also had a negative effect on its share price which lost 5.6%.

“Insurance doesn’t answer all of the questions and solve all of the problems, but it makes it easier”, Jenny Englerth, CEO of Family First Health, said.

The announcements come a few weeks after several smaller, nonprofit insurance cooperatives said they would stop selling coverage on the state-based exchanges.

UnitedHealth took a cautious approach and sat out the first year the exchanges were open, and perhaps it should have done the same for the second and third years as well, he later added, saying, “you could fault us for trying too hard to make this work or for hanging on too long”.

Something to keep in mind, though – the government released a statement the same day as United’s announcement admitting it hasn’t paid almost as much money as promised to help insurers recoup the losses everyone was expecting for Obamacare’s early years.

The company has already pulled back on marketing efforts for its exchange coverage during open enrollment through the end of January, and according to media reports has cut or lowered commissions to brokers of those policies.

Hempstead said another way to draw more middle-class buyers who don’t expect to use the plans much would be to change the parameters of what has to be covered so that policies are less comprehensive. She did not have insurance where she worked, so she was interested in the Affordable Care Act.

John Gorman, an insurance consultant, suggests UnitedHealth is acting quickly and irrationally. Accordingly, stock shares stock fell 5.7 percent to close at $110.63 Thursday.

But one insurance expert said UnitedHealth’s statements are evidence that the Obama administration needs to adjust the ACA if the program is to remain a viable option for both insurers and for customers. Those lower-premium plans that Obama described as worthless because they didn’t pay out anything were no worse than the plans that replaced them and don’t pay out anything until a consumer has racked up $2,000 or more in medical bills. It is a risk that comes in fresh markets where the insurer would not have been familiar with.

“The reality is we continue to see more people signing up for health insurance and more issuers entering the marketplaces”, Ben Wakana, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said by e-mail.