Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Marketplace Debate: Can Exchanges Survive Aetna Withdrawal, Other Problems?
The Washington Post: The Affordable Care Act Is Not In Crisis — But It Could Be Better
Aetna’s withdrawal from Affordable Care Act markets has sparked the latest round of dire predictions about the law’s survival. Yet time and time again the ACA has proved durable, insuring 20 million Americans with improvements each year. This time will be no different. (Ezekiel Emanuel and Topher Spiro, 8/22)
The Washington Post: To Save Obamacare’s Exchanges, Learn From Their Critics
All but the most hardened partisans understand that the Affordable Care Act’s insurance exchanges are in serious trouble. In 2010, the Congressional Budget Office predicted that 21 million people would have exchange-based coverage in 2016; the real number was about 12 million. As insurers head for the exits, the gap between initial hype and final reality will widen. (Avik Roy, 8/22)
The Huffington Post: Fixing Obamacare: The Democrats Have To Talk About It
Last week Aetna, one of the country’s largest insurance companies, announced that it was cutting back its participation in the health care exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). With several other major insurers also cutting back their participation, there will be very limited competition in many markets. This prospect has supporters of the ACA worried and opponents gleefully looking forward to the day when millions may lose their insurance. (Dean Baker, 8/22)
The Hill: ObamaCare Is The Last Chance For Private Health Insurance
[The ACA] is based on the free market, for-profit healthcare system of both insurance companies and healthcare providers. Indeed, it has empowered them both, swelling enrollment by millions and sending their profits soaring. Even as Aetna pledged last week to drop out of the healthcare exchanges in eleven of fifteen states, citing anticipated losses, their Q2 earnings topped $780 million. There is nothing anti-capitalist about the ACA. It works in conjunction with the free-market healthcare system which has existed here since the beginning. It is also the very last chance that system has to prove it can work. (Patrick Tomlinson, 8/22)
Dallas Morning News: Obamacare Customers In Dallas Are On The Outside, Looking In
Here’s another cruel irony for Obamacare.Two new health care models that aim for better outcomes at a lower price are taking hold in North Texas, but they won’t be offered on HealthCare.gov next year. That’s because the insurers participating in the efforts, Aetna and Scott & White Health Plan, said last week that they would exit the exchange business in the state. (Mitchell Schnurman, 8/22)
The Des Moines Register: Government Should Not Rely On Private Insurers
Aetna announced last week that it was reducing participation in health insurance exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act. It will sell plans in only four states next year, including Iowa, down from 15 this year. This follows similar market exits from UnitedHealth Group and Humana. This is yet another reminder of why government should not rely on private companies to deliver health insurance to Americans. History has repeatedly shown this is a costly, dangerous and unsustainable idea. Yet politicians refuse to listen to history. (8/22)
The Huffington Post: Why A Single-Payer Healthcare System Is Inevitable
The best argument for a single-payer health plan is the recent decision by giant health insurer Aetna to bail out next year from 11 of the 15 states where it sells Obamacare plans. Aetna’s decision follows similar moves by UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest health insurer, and by Humana, another one of the giants. All claim they’re not making enough money because too many people with serious health problems are using the Obamacare exchanges, and not enough healthy people are signing up. (Robert Reich, 8/22)
