If Obamacare can’t work in California, it can’t work anywhere. The state government — run entirely by San Francisco Democrats — has gone all in to make Obamacare a success. But now, the largest insurers are opting out of the state exchange for small business. From the San Francisco Chronicle story:
Anthem Blue Cross, the state’s largest insurer, has opted not to sell coverage for small businesses through Covered California, the state-run exchange where individuals and small businesses will be able to shop for medical insurance under the federal health law. The insurance giant will, however, sell coverage for individuals through Covered California. Anthem’s announcement late last week came after two other insurers, UnitedHealth Group and Aetna, which had already chosen not to be part of the exchanges next year, announced this summer that they will no longer offer individual policies in California after the end of this year.
The insurers have just a small portion of California’s market share of policies sold to individuals. Meanwhile, Anthem has about a third of the state’s small-business market and will continue to sell those policies – just not as part of the exchange.“This is not a good way to get things started,” said Micah Weinberg, senior policy adviser at the Bay Area Council, an employer-backed San Francisco group. “But you have to ask at some point, how many carriers do you need?”
The more the better, we were told. Read the article. There’s a lot of similar tap-dancing quotes from Obamacare enthusiasts.
Did somebody say, “Train wreck!”?