Obama's health insurance co-ops: They're drowning
ObamaCare's government-run insurance “alternative” that's supposed to compete against big insurers is coming up precariously short both in revenue and enrollment.
By The Tribune-Review
Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, 9:00 p.m.
Out of 23 nonprofit insurance co-ops, 22 lost money in 2014, according to an audit by the inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services. Only Maine made money; a co-op in Iowa/Nebraska was shut down over “financial concerns,” Fox News reports.
In addition, 13 of the co-ops fell short, in some cases drastically short, of enrollment projections. A preliminary review this year found enrollment has increased at some co-ops but the financial losses continue.
And that could leave taxpayers on the hook for $2.4 billion in loans that got the co-ops started. Low enrollments “might limit the ability of some co-ops to repay startup and solvency loans and to remain viable and sustainable,” according to the audit.
Yet the White House last spring painted an entirely different picture, saying the co-ops “competed effectively with established insurers.”
Tell that to the Louisiana Health Cooperative, which announced it will cease offering coverage next year. This is an alternative to traditional health insurance?
The question is how much more public money is going to get pumped into the government's insurance experiment, which already is significantly underwater and shows no sign of resurfacing.