Taxpayer funded health insurance co-ops are going bankrupt under Obamacare

Tuesday, July 12, 2016 by: Daniel Barker
Tags: obamacare, bankruptcy, health care failure

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(NaturalNews) The bad news concerning Obamacare is growing even worse. Last week, Blue Cross Blue Shield submitted a request for rate hikes of 60 percent for its policyholders in Texas. Then, a couple of days later, the news broke that Ohio's InHealth Mutual co-op is going bust, making it the 13th of 23 non-profit co-ops set up under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to declare bankruptcy.

From FreeBeacon.com:

"The Ohio Department of Insurance asked to liquidate the company, saying that the company was in a 'hazardous financial condition.' The co-op served nearly 22,000 consumers who now have 60 days to find another policy offered by another company on the federal exchange.

"The company recorded an underwriting loss of $80 million in 2015 despite the $129 million in taxpayer-backed loans granted to the co-op by the federal government."

Reports say that $3 million in claims per week were being filed with the insurer, creating a situation in which a 60 percent rate hike in 2017 would have been necessary to cover the outlays.

Ohio Director of Insurance Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor said:

"Our examination of the company's financials made it clear that the company's losses would prevent it from paying future claims should its operations continue. Under Ohio law, we acted with certainty to protect the consumers."

The collapse of Obamacare

Many experts now believe that the remaining 10 ACA co-ops will also fail, contributing what pundits are already calling the "collapse of Obamacare." This means that taxpayers will have to cover the expenses, since it's unlikely that any significant portion of the $1.24 billion allocated to establish the co-ops will ever be paid back.

As Sen. Rob Portman (R., Ohio) recently testified in a Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing:

"The Subcommittee obtained the failed co-op's most recent financial statements, and those statements show that none of the failed co-ops have repaid a single dollar, principal or interest, of the $1.2 billion in federal loans they received.

"It is unlikely they will pay any significant fraction back. The latest statements show that the failed co-ops' non-loan liabilities exceed $1.13 billion—which is 93 percent greater than their reported assets, including money they expect to receive. On top of that, they owe $1.2 billion to the federal government. We should not hold our breath on repayment."

At the same hearing, Dr. Scott Harrington, a Wharton School professor and expert on health insurance, echoed Portman's remarks:

"The future of the 11 co-ops still providing coverage in 2016 is uncertain, but future closures seem likely...

"Very little, if any, of the $1.24 billion in federal start-up and solvency loans to establish those co-ops will be repaid, and at least several will be unable to meet all of their obligations to policyholders and health care providers."

Majority of Americans do not want Obamacare

The failure of the co-ops leaves many Americans scrambling to find new insurers, while most of the rest face skyrocketing premium rates. And on top of that, U.S. taxpayers will now have to cover the $1.24 billion collapse of the co-op system.

Obamacare has proven to be an utter failure in terms of providing affordable health care for all Americans. The Obama administration continues in its attempts to paint a rosy picture concerning the "success" of the ACA, but Americans know better - a majority of the populace says it wants to see Obamacare repealed.

From The American Spectator:

"Meanwhile, no amount of Obama administration or media propaganda can cover up the one indisputable fact that a majority of Americans see every day with their own eyes — the 'Affordable Care Act' is unaffordable. Rather than reducing costs, as promised, it has driven them up. And it's going to get worse."

The media chooses to ignore the latest polls, but the message is clear - Americans are sick and tired of Obamacare.

Sources:
http://freebeacon.com
http://freebeacon.com
http://www.zerohedge.com
http://dailysignal.com
http://spectator.org/obamacare-poll-most-enrollees-hate-their-plans/