Obamacare Continues To Collapse, 19th Co-op Goes Under

We are all watching Obamacare collapse before our eyes, leaving our finances and ability to get quality healthcare waning. Thanks to the regulations, taxes, and government interference in the healthcare industry, we are now reaching the end of the road. It’ll soon be time for the government to “fix” the healthcare system that they themselves broke.

Don’t expect “Trumpcare” to be the answer either. Regardless of the failures of government-run health care, many are still chomping at the bit for even more government when it comes to their health. With the recent collapse of the 19th Obamacare co-op, there are now only four left for 2018. Minuteman Health of Massachusetts and New Hampshire announced it is withdrawing from the Affordable Care Act exchanges in 2018, leaving only four co-ops in operation.

Watching this systematic collapse is fascinating, in that many still don’t want Obamacare completely repealed.  Minuteman Health claims the problem is inherently embedded into the poorly written law. The major issues is the inability to “redistribute” money to sicker customers from those who are healthier. (Health is impossible to redistribute, so tyrants will instead, attempt to redistribute your morally acquired property.) The company cited big problems with Obamacare’s risk-adjustment program, which is the program that shifts money away from those with healthier customers to those with sicker enrollees. And that isn’t all. Minuteman Health said that the negative impact of this program had been “substantial.” “Unfortunately, the program has not worked as intended,” the company said. “It has been difficult for insurers to predict their risk-adjustment obligations, which has led some to withdraw from the ACA market.”

“The program also unfairly penalizes issuers like MHI that are small, low cost, and experience high growth,” the company said. “The significant relative impact from risk adjustment has been the principal driver of a reduction in MHI’s surplus and capital over 2 [sic] time.”

The co-op was able to grow to 37,000 members since it began in 2014 but said that being subject to certain co-op rules made it hard to adjust its business model to mitigate issues with the risk-adjustment program. The co-op was awarded $156.4 million in taxpayer-funded loans in 2012 and 2013.

The new company, Minuteman Insurance Company, will not be subject to these rules. “Offering our members a quality, more affordable coverage option has been Minuteman’s mission from day one,” said Tom Policelli, CEO of the co-op. “We want to continue that mission in 2018 and beyond through the new company, we are currently working to organize. Forming Minuteman Insurance Company will allow us to address numerous federal restrictions and work to make our coverage available to more people.”

The solution to Obamacare is actually really very simple, yet it’s something that makes statists itchy with discomfort. The government should simply extract themselves from our healthcare, which is a very personal decision. But it’s difficult when so many fellow Americans make demands of each other when it comes to whether or not they have the right to make decisions on their own about their health or body.

Isn’t it ironic that those who scream the loudest “my body, my choice!” are the very same people who demand you get on board with socialized healthcare? The hypocrites really should be saying “my body, my choice! Your body, the government’s choice.”