Another Obamacare co-op bites the dust

Ohio's Obamacare co-op will be shut down over the next 60 days despite efforts to keep it afloat.

Nearly 22,000 customers will be forced to find alternatives for their health insurance.  The meltdown marks the 13th out of 23 Obamacare co-ops to go under.

The Hill:

The Ohio Department of Insurance announced that the co-op, known as InHealth Mutual, will be shut down, forcing its nearly 22,000 enrollees to find other plans within the next 60 days. 

“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,” Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, who is also the Ohio director of insurance, said in a statement. 

The closure represents a significant disruption for the enrollees. The Obama administration and state regulators had worked to shut down any financially shaky co-ops before 2016 enrollment began on Nov. 1, in an attempt to avoid such failure in the middle of the coverage year. 

But that is now happening in Ohio. The Department of Insurance said ObamaCare enrollees in the co-op plan should log onto the health law’s marketplace in the next 60 days to select a new health insurance plan. 

"Thanks to the failure of Obamacare's co-op health plans about 22,000 Ohioans will be forced to seek new coverage,” Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio), the chairman of the Ways and Means health subcommittee, said in a statement. “It is unacceptable. My constituents deserve certainty, not plans that crumble and implode under their own weight.”

He said the co-op’s failure is evidence of the need to repeal ObamaCare, and highlighted the healthcare task force put together by Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) that is coming up with the outline of a replacement plan. 

"We will work with InHealth and the state to provide consumers with the information they need to stay covered," said Aaron Albright, a spokesman for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. "While we expect the number of issuers to fluctuate from year-to-year, consumer choice remains strong and new consumers in Ohio can still select from one of the state’s 16 other issuers on the Marketplace."

The idea that the government could create co-ops that could compete with private insurers was absurd from the beginning, as many Obamacare opponents tried to point out.  Nearly $3 billion in taxpayer loans have been given to these non-profits with the prospect that little or none of that money can be recovered.

As the pool of insurers continues to shrink, competition disappears as well.  With companies likely to demand double digit increases in insurance rates this year, even fewer options will become available for consumers in the future.  The end of Obamacare is on the horizon, killed by stupidity and incompetence.  So much of what was sold to the people about what Obamacare would do has been shown to be wrong that its death will be welcomed by most.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/05/another_obamacare_coop_bites_the_dust.html