Second Part of Trumpcare
Some insurers are quitting the marketplaces entirely — raising the possibility of “empty” shelf counties
Both Tennessee and Iowa are now at risk of having large areas of the state where no health insurance plans want to sell insurance coverage. Insurers left these places in part because they had spent years losing money on the First healthcare marketplaces — and in part because there is too much uncertainty under the Trump administration they have no expectation of improvement.
There are 16 counties in Eastern Tennessee that currently have no health plans signed up to sell AFA coverage in 2018. Humana pulled out of that marketplace in early January. Iowa could also be left in a similar situation: 94 of its 99 counties are served by just one health plan, Medica, which is not committed to sticking with the marketplace in 2018. These two states are just the tip of how Trump plans to destroy healthcare for America. Cut off the funding and the patient will die. So those looking for a solution from Congress this session or in the near future have a bleak chance that the situation will be better when the Republican plan actually come out of committee and receive an up or down vote.
Healthcare market place providers Wellmark, Aetna, Medica and other healthcare providers are facing serious solutions to this delimna created wholly due to the Republicans who have been plan repeal for almost 9 years feel they have a better alternative by repealing and replacing our current healthcare system. All the states who accepted Medicaid funding for healthcare are faring well within the current system. And because Trump can’t have a repeal he plans to destroy the system and in turn hurting the same people who placed him in office. Is this a good idea??? You tell me!!
Where President Obama saw problems in the system and solved them. Republicans see an opportunity to make things worst.
The Obama administration faced the challenge to repair small area of the country who couldn’t obtain Healthcare Provider and stepped in finding solutions. In 2014, there was an area in Mississippi where no insurers wanted to sell coverage. In 2016, one county in Southern Arizona faced a similar situation. In both cases, the Obama administration swooped in to negotiate with health plans and convince an insurance plan to sell in the area. The marketplace so far, until Trumps arrival, has never had a county go without at least one Obamacare option.
Kevin Counihan, former chief executive of Healthcare.gov, remembers traveling the country last summer to places they felt were at risk of low or no competition.
“We could not administer this law and not have access,” says Counihan. “So a bare county was not acceptable to us.”
Republicans, meanwhile, seem to see these places as political opportunity. House members repeatedly invoked the situation in Iowa when they made their case for Obamacare repeal in passing their version several week ago.
“Just this week, we learned of another state, Iowa, where the last remaining health care plan is pulling out of 94 of their 99 counties, leaving most of their citizens with no plans on the Obamacare market at all,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said.
“Insurers are fleeing the marketplace because Obamacare is fundamentally flawed,” Health and Human Services spokesperson Alleigh Marre recently stated, creating problems where a solution is needed seems to be their plan. “As more Americans are presented with higher healthcare costs and fewer options for coverage, repealing and replacing the law remains the best option.”
This political strategy is a risky one. People who live in places without any Obamacare options may blame the health care law, and its faulty drafting. Or, they could point the finger back at Republicans — who control both the White House and Congress, yet haven’t taken steps to fix this problem.
E. Bishop III “Follow The Money People”
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