Anthem, one of the largest insurers in the country, says it's withdrawing from the health insurance marketplace in Ohio.
Without explicitly naming Trump and the GOP, Anthem says congressional grabass has made it nearly impossible to move forward as planned.
Anthem said that setting prices and making decisions about ACA plans has become “increasingly difficult due to the shrinking individual market as well as continual changes in federal operations, rules and guidance.” The insurer said the market remains “volatile,” and it cited the uncertainty surrounding key issues including federal payments that help reduce costs for low-income ACA enrollees.
The insurer said an “increasing lack of overall predictability simply does not provide a sustainable path forward to provide affordable plan choices for consumers.”
Trump has repeatedly threatened to cut cost-sharing subsidies for insurers, contributing to this immense clusterfuck.
To be clear, Obamacare isn't responsible for this. Obamacare created the subsidies which transfer funds from one insurer to another to stabilize premiums for everyone, but the subsidies did not create the problems we're seeing today.
House Republicans filed a lawsuit against the subsidies, which Republicans have referred to as a "bailout" for insurers. Their lawsuit has been pending for years, long enough to prompt the Trump regime to ask the court to delay their review of the case to avoid the possibility that they'll rule in the GOP's favor and blow up the market.
But Trump has been threatening to blow up the market intentionally and House Republicans under Speaker Paul Ryan have refused to back off their lawsuit and codify the subsidies to stabilize the market.
As of today Republicans are still pointing fingers at Obamacare and even using today's news as evidence that the law is "failing," but they did this. This is their mess. And none of their proposals are going to fix anything, it would only make it much, much worse. Even if they passed and implemented Trumpcare tomorrow, it would be an infinitely worse outcome for patients and healthcare providers than Anthem's withdrawal.