It’s Getting Rockier for Obamacare in Tennessee | Citizens Against Government Waste

It’s Getting Rockier for Obamacare in Tennessee

The WasteWatcher

Citizens Against Government Waste’s August WasteWatcher discussed how many states were seeing large health insurance rate increases in the Affordable Care Act’s (Obamacare) exchanges.  In the state of Tennessee, Cigna and Humana revised their original premium rate increase request from an average of 23 percent to 46 percent and an average of 29 percent to 44.3 percent respectively.  The Tennessean reported on August 12 that BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (BCBST) would not revise its average rate hike request of 62 percent, even though the insurance commissioner had allowed all insurers to amend their rate increase requests after Cigna and Humana indicated their first filing was too low and that they might leave the state's exchange.

In spite of being granted the rate increase by the state's insurance commissioner, on September 26, BCBST made the surprising announcement that it was withdrawing from the Obamacare exchanges that operate in Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville, leaving approximately 130,000 customers scrambling to find new health insurance for 2017.  The insurer will still provide insurance to approximately 80,000 customers who reside mostly in rural areas.

Prior to Monday’s announcement, Tennessee had 57 counties where there was only one insurer.  With BCBST pulling out of major metropolitan areas, there will be 73 counties with one insurer.  Tennessee joins other states that are losing insurers, which was discussed in CAGW’s August 23 SwineLine, “The Obamacare Sink Hole.” (United HealthCare announced in April it would pull out of Tennessee’s and most Obamacare exchanges across the country.)

The Tennessean stated on September 26, “Three years into the Affordable Care Act exchange, the state’s largest insurer is grappling with hefty losses and ongoing uncertainty on the marketplace.  BCBST is open to coming fully back into the market once uncertainties about policies and the membership wane.”  The insurer is expecting loses of $500 million by the end of 2016.

It is unlikely that Obamacare will ever stabilize, unless billions of tax dollars are poured into the coffers of insurance companies in an effort to save the healthcare “reform” law.  The onerous mandates and regulations contained within the Affordable Care Act have made it unaffordable, sending it into the long expected death spiral.

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