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Insurers had a loose deadline to meet this week, deciding by Wednesday whether or not to participate in Affordable Care Act health insurance exchanges around the country. That decision is made much more difficult by the uncertainty surrounding the Senate's handling of Trumpcare, and the Trump regime's lack of commitment to following what is—for the time being—established law. One insurer, Anthem, announced it was leaving Wisconsin and Indiana next year.
In making the announcement, Anthem said offering plans had “become increasingly difficult due to a shrinking and deteriorating individual market, as well as continual changes and uncertainty in federal operations, rules and guidance.”
Even as Senate Republicans hurry to finish their plan to overhaul the law, insurers are racing to meet not just federal but also a series of state deadlines to submit rate requests.
While the Wednesday deadline does not represent a final commitment by any insurer, “it will be a good indicator of the health of these markets,” said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at Georgetown University.
It's not entirely bad news. A start-up in New York, Oscar Health, is going to join the Ohio, New Jersey, and Tennessee exchanges, and will expand its operations in California and Texas. Oddly enough, one of Oscar Health's founders is venture capitalist Josh Kushner, Jared Kushner's brother. Apparently the family grift machine hasn't expanded to include him, since Trump still seems intent on destroying the law. Or maybe they know something we don't.
"We’re confident that when the dust settles, the market for health insurance will stabilize in time for 2018," Mario Schlosser, the company’s chief executive says. "For all of the political noise, there are simply too many lives at stake for representatives in Washington, D.C., not to do what's right for the people."
Others—Molina operating in nine states, Medica in Iowa, and Centene which is expanding to Nevada, Missouri, and Kansas—are sticking with it, for now. That exposes the big lie behind Republicans' push to repeal Obamacare: that it's failing. It's not. It is being eroded by the government that is supposed to be upholding the law. But it's not in a death spiral.