Another Major Insurance Company Threatens to Leave Obamacare

Zach Montanaro | November 2, 2016
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The news for Obamacare keeps getting worse and worse by the day.

The insurance company Anthem said on Wednesday that it could start pulling out of Obamacare markets in 2018 if the markets don’t start improving next year.

“If we do not see clear evidence of an improving environment and a path towards sustainability in the marketplace, we will likely modify our strategy in 2018,” Anthem Chief Executive Officer Joseph Swedish said. “Clearly, 2017 is a critical year as we continue to assess the long-term viability of our exchange footprint.”

Anthem would join fellow insurance providers Aetna, UnitedHealth Group, and Humana, who have already scaled down their involvement with Obamacare markets after posting massive losses.

According to Bloomberg, Anthem’s stock has been lagging behind rival insurance companies. Despite having nearly 889,000 people signed up for individual plans in their third quarter, Swedish stated that the financial performance of Obamacare products was “disappointing” and the number of people actually signing up for plans has been “short of our original expectations.”

This announcement follows the recent news that premiums for plans offered on Obamacare's exchanges will rise by an average of 25 percent in 2017. Some states like Arkansas (+2) and Wyoming (+9%) will get only modest increases, while other states like Pennsylvania (+53%), Tennessee (+63%), and Arizona (+116%) will see major spikes in their premiums.

You can see a full map of the premium spikes here:

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