ObamaCare Medicaid Expansion

ObamaCare Expansion Enrollment is Shattering Projections

Medicaid expansion already makes welfare for able-bodied adults a higher priority than services for the nearly 600,000 seniors, children with developmental disabilities, individuals with brain injuries, and other vulnerable individuals currently languishing on waiting lists for needed Medicaid services. Mounting overruns will soon exacerbate pressure on policymakers to shift even more money away from the truly needy and towards ObamaCare’s able-bodied adults.

Medicaid Espansion & what it means for you!

While nearly 600,000 truly needy individuals with disabilities are trapped on Medicaid waiting lists, ObamaCare’s Medicaid Expansion redirects limited taxpayer resources to a new welfare class of able-bodied, childless adults that puts them at risk. An FGA study found that every ObamaCare expansion state with available data has enrolled more able-bodied adults than they expected to ever enroll. On average, these states have enrolled 110% more adults than expected.

State spending on Medicaid increased 71% in the last 10 years, making it one of the largest and fastest growing line items in state budgets. Because it is growing faster than state revenues, the program siphons away resources from other budget priorities, like kids, cops, and roads. Medicaid expansion throws gas on this spending fire.

Resources

•  ObamaCare’s Medicaid Expansion
•  Medicaid Expansion FAQs
•  Hospitals and ObamaCare’s Medicaid Expansion FAQs
•  ObamaCare Expansion Enrollment is Shattering Projections
•  Work Requirements Work Well for Welfare
•  Traditional Medicaid vs ObamaCare’s Medicaid Expansion
•  Obamacare’s Medicaid Enrollment Explosion: A Looming Fiscal Nightmare For States
•  How the New Congress Can Thoughtfully Repeal ObamaCare’s Expansion

ObamaCare Expansion Enr

Choices grow thin as premiums soar & Donald Trump tweets

Article by Tom Murphy, ABC News 04/26/2017

One health insurer is eager to dive back into the Affordable Care Act's troubled insurance exchanges next year, even as competitors waver and President Donald Trump tweets doom about the law's future.

Centene Corp. said Tuesday that its exchange enrollment has swelled 74 percent since last year, up to nearly 1.2 million people.

This comes as competitors like Aetna back away from these public marketplaces after absorbing steep losses, and others like the Blue Cross-Blue Shield carrier Anthem await signs of stability before committing to 2018. Trump has warned repeatedly about the collapse of the law and its exchanges, which provide coverage for around 12 million people.

Insurers have struggled to build a stable business out of the exchanges, in part because they can't attract enough young, healthy people to balance out sicker customers who use their coverage. Soaring premiums haven't helped that push. Companies also say they've been stung by expensive patients who wait until they need the coverage before enrolling.

As a result, exchange choices have grown thin, with many markets down to a single insurer. Some in Tennessee have none.

Heading into 2018, insurers also are nervous about the future of billions of dollars in cost-sharing assistance for some exchange customers with modest incomes.

Despite all this, Centene Chairman and CEO Michael Neidorff said Tuesday during a conference call to discuss the company's first-quarter results that he sees "nothing out there" that will change his company's participation next year.

"We have the agility and the ability to adjust," he said.

Centene sells coverage under its Ambetter brand on exchanges in 12 states. That includes key markets like Florida, Texas and Ohio.

What makes it more bullish than its competitors on these still unstable markets? Analysts say Centene sticks to customers it knows. The insurer specializes in managing the state and federally funded Medicaid program for the poor. On the exchanges, it targets low-income customers in markets where it has already formed networks of providers for its Medicaid business.

That means the insurer doesn't have to build doctor networks for its exchange business from scratch. It also means Centene generally serves customers who get big subsidies that can shield them from price hikes. This makes it more likely they keep their coverage.

Neidorff said Tuesday that 80 percent of Centene's 2016 exchange customers renewed their plans in 2017. Repeat business like that makes it easier for insurers to figure out prices.

Centene has added some new exchange business through its acquisition of fellow insurer Health Net, said Stifel health insurance analyst Thomas Carroll.

It also has gained customers as competitors like UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Humana Inc. have left markets, noted Ana Gupte, who follows insurers as a senior analyst with Leerink Partners.

St. Louis-based Centene Corp. didn't detail financial results from its exchange business. But the insurer said Tuesday it earned $139 million overall in a first-quarter performance that topped Wall Street expectations.

Insurers are still sorting out their coverage plans for next year, so others may still come forward with their own exchange testimonials. They have until late spring or early summer, depending on the state, to make an initial decision on where they plan to sell next year.

Another big exchange participant, Indianapolis-based Anthem Inc., will report Wednesday on its first quarter.

Jefferies analyst David Windley said late last month in a research note that he thought the Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurer was leaning toward leaving a "high percentage" of the exchange markets in which it participates.

An Anthem spokeswoman said in response that the insurer was still pursuing "policy changes that will help with market stabilization and achieve the common goal of making quality health care more affordable and accessible for all."

An Anthem pullback would be a huge blow to the exchanges. Heading into 2017 Anthem was the lone insurer on exchanges in 300 counties in seven states, according to data compiled by The Associated Press and the health research firm Avalere.

Anthem to likely exit ACA for 2018

News of the Jefferies' analysis first was reported by Bloomberg.

Anthem currently insures more than 800,000 individual plan customers in 144 rating regions in 14 states.

Other major insurers, including Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Cigna and Humana, have already scaled back their footprints in the Obamacare markets.

But Anthem's exit would potentially have a bigger impact.

Earlier this month, an analysis by Axios.com said, "An Anthem exit would cause arguably the most disruption nationwide."

"Roughly 255,000 people across Colorado, Kentucky, Missouri and Ohio would have no Obamacare insurers for 2018, and 560,000 people in eight states would have just one insurer," the analysis by Axios.com said.

Anthem's management has indicated that it would like regulatory changes that could lower the financial risk it runs in insuring Obamacare customers.

The Jefferies report said that management told the analysts that "regulatory advocacy needs to progress significantly in the next 'month or so.' "

"Improvements such as eligibility verification, more rigid special enrollment periods, shortening of premium grace periods are steps in the right direction, but not enough," the Jefferies analysts wrote of Anthem's view.

Another factor that would play into Anthem's decision on whether, and to what extent, to pull out of Obamacare markets is the level of health claims that its current pool of customers will end up having this year.

Management told Jefferies that it normally takes up to six months of claims "to get a sense of risk profile on its new enrollees (so, mid-year)."