UnitedHealth is leaving another 10 states next year, shortly after the nation’s largest insurer said it would leave most of its Obamacare markets in 2017.
Connecticut’s insurance regulator confirmed that UnitedHealth will leave the Obamacare individual exchange and Obamacare’s Small Business Health Options program. Pennsylvania’s insurance commissioner confirmed the company is leaving the Obamacare marketplace. They are the fourth and fifth states in which UnitedHealth will not offer plans in the Obamacare markets in 2017.
The company also is leaving Tennessee, Missouri, Washington state, Nebraska, Texas, North Carolina, Louisiana and Oklahoma. So far it is staying in Nevada, New York and Virginia, according to Bloomberg.
The company announced during an investor call Tuesday morning that it will remain in only a “handful of states” in 2017 because of mounting financial losses. The company lost $425 million last year in its Obamacare business, with poor enrollment cited by officials as a factor.
It had announced before the call that it will exit Georgia, Michigan and Arkansas.
Obama administration officials have downplayed any exit, saying that UnitedHealth has a large amount of business in the employer market where people get insurance through their jobs.
An analysis from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation projected that UnitedHealth exiting Obamacare entirely would create a modest effect overall but would lead to higher premiums for some consumers and lower competition in certain markets.
