America’s largest health insurer announced Tuesday it is exiting the Obamacare market, and neither ABC nor NBC News made a single mention of the major development on their evening newscasts.
“Next year we will only remain in a handful of states,” UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley said this week, citing profit losses as the reason for the planned exodus.
The insurer, which had plans in 34 states, lost a reported $425 million last year due to its involvement in the Obamacare market, and the company projected an estimated loss of $650 million for 2016. For that reason, the organization explained this week, they’re joining a growing trend of insurers who are bowing out of participating in the Affordable Care Act.
None of this was mentioned Tuesday by NBC or ABC.
The only evening newscast to touch on the UnitedHealth announcement was “CBS Evening News.” However, even that coverage was thin, as network host Scott Pelley covered the development for only 22 seconds, according to an analysis by the Media Research Center.
The entirety of Pelley’s comments fit into three sentences.
“One of the nation’s largest health insurers said today it was pulling out of Obamacare exchanges next year in all but a few states,” he said Tuesday. “United Healthcare has had trouble attracting the younger customers who subsidize care for older and sicker patients in 34 states. It expects to lose $650 million this year.”
