19th Obamacare exchange has folded.

19th ObamaCare co-op folds, leaving only 4 operating in 2018

So, the Obamacare Exchange that serves Massachusetts & New Hampshire is dropping out at the end of this year, and will transform into a private insurance company. The article says there are only 4 state exchanges left, but I can't find which four states those are.

I did find this county-level map showing the number of insurers in each county, and it's pretty sad. Currently (as of yesterday) there are 47 counties that will have no providers in 2018; these are in Missouri, Ohio, and Indiana.

In addition, several entire states will have only 1 insurer: Alaska, Wyoming, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, and Deleware.

Almost all of Arizona, Iowa, Tennessee, and North Carolina will also have only 1 insurer, but small parts of those states have 2 insurers.

a reply to: AndyFromMichigan

It's obviously been such a major success, I don't know why anyone would want to repeal it /sarcasm

Unfortunately, the GOP's bill sounds like it's crap too. We the People will get screwed over in the end one way or another. Meanwhile big pharma and insurance companies will be laughing all the way to the bank.


HA HA HAAAA

a reply to: FamCore

it's a real shame we can't just repeal the whole thing, then go to town on eliminating health insurance completely.

It's a good thing I don't plan to live to an old age, sounds like I won't be able to afford it.

a reply to: lordcomac

I'm right there with ya

With rises in premiums and loss of coverages I have a feeling we're gonna be seeing a lot of folks looking like this:

I think they have realized that it is a bubble and the same as the housing bubble bursting; the healthcare one will too. I personally do not use the stuff myself, not afraid of death or sickness etc. as all is impermanent it comes and goes. But for those that do? Need it want it or use it, some even too much? The government should look at systems that actually work in other countries and since most every medical establishment is under an HMO like the HOA's of real estate blocks...

Then they can use one sweeping legislation to make all healthcare facilities unless privately owned; step to that new policy... flat tax I think is the keystone for getting such accomplished; it would do away with the constant abuse and tax revisions and headaches.

Of course some states will drag feet because some have no state tax, some even have no federal tax and many affluents and corporations people use them as havens to avoid taxes in a dual residency or a home office of operations.

So people think how the hell does this company in New York or Miami continue to do business? That's how the state bilked out of tax dollars because residency or home office of operations is located elsewhere.

a reply to: FamCore

It sure feels like we are just moving a turd from our left hand to out right hand.
Typical government I suppose.

a reply to: AndyFromMichigan

I saw this coming before the ACA was even launched. I fought it tooth and nail. I blogged, emailed, petitioned the AMA, I even cried and quit my job, because I saw the fiasco the ACA was going to be, as clear as the sun on a cloudless morning.

The ACA or any similar product, will never work as long as private insurance companies are at the center of healthcare. You can't have that many hands scooping from the pot and expect anything good to come out of it.

Don't replace just repeal. Now they say their will be more not covered than Obummer care covered so I believe nothing.

a reply to: Bluntone22

It sure feels like we are just moving a turd from our left hand to out right hand.

And now we have poop all over our hands, and the Government comes in to save the day by selling us wet wipes for jacked up prices jackasses

originally posted by: FamCore
Meanwhile big pharma and insurance companies will be laughing all the way to the bank.

Until, no one can afford to buy their product any longer.

a reply to: alphabetaone

How so? Obamacare forces everyone to buy health insurance.

a reply to: AndyFromMichigan

Hate to sound like a harpie but.....Elizabeth Warren is right.........its time for Single Payer. Yea the service will be crappy but it beats the 100 million living in abject poverty in the US becoming diseased and spreading it throughout the rest of the population. At least with single payer they will die with some dignity.

No healthcare plan will be successful (Obama's or Trump's) until we find a way to reduce the cost of healthcare in the first place.

Find ways to reduce the costs of the healthcare - so insurer's needn't rape people in order to cover the healthcare.

Big Pharma is a good start. But, everything really, is way over-priced (because insurer's pay).

If we'd work on lowering the costs of the services instead of arguing about who is going to cover these outrageously priced services (and how)...we may actually find some answers.

a reply to: Admitted

Well, I agree. But to be perfectly frank, I think that's beyond our reach at this point. I mean, how do you tell doctor's to start taking significant pay cuts?


How do you tell the pharma to start letting their investors know that for the good of the country, they have to expect huge losses on their investments?


How do you get beyond the associations and unions involved in constantly raising the employee benefits and required pay raises and tell them they need to make significant concessions and reductions?


It just all seems too big at this point to simply say "make healthcare more affordable" as much as I do agree with you, that should have been kept at bay from the start instead of now trying to put the genie back in the bottle.

a reply to: alphabetaone

Thank you for the reply. I don't have the answers to these questions, it's too much to handle at this point - as you said.

Mostly I'm just frustrated with the back-and-forth bickering about problems that need to be solved at the ROOT. No one will ever agree because the problem is not seen.

originally posted by: Admitted
No one will ever agree because the problem is not seen.

You're absolutely right...it's not seen. But let me tell you, it's heartbreaking, some people's stories.

Mitch McConnells home state, Kentucky, which 80% of the constituents there voted for Donald Trump. They have some of the toughest life choices to make (West Virginia is probably equally as tough with respect to their choices).

I originally supporter Donald Trump, as ive said many times in other threads, with some (obviously skewed) hopes that his usualy antics and childish behavioral patterns would diminish in the face of the auspice under which he was elected; to be a real leader. Shame on me, shame on us.

Do me a favor and watch the following youtube video from start to finish and tell me how one cant feel as though they have been duped "bigly"

originally posted by: TonyS
a reply to: AndyFromMichigan

Hate to sound like a harpie but.....Elizabeth Warren is right.........its time for Single Payer. Yea the service will be crappy but it beats the 100 million living in abject poverty in the US becoming diseased and spreading it throughout the rest of the population. At least with single payer they will die with some dignity.

We already put the government into health care.

VA health, total disaster.

Medicaid, doctors are refusing to accept it all over.

Medicare, over 40 TRILLION dollars in debt.

So I guess 4th times the charm then, give the government even MORE control over health care.

originally posted by: Grambler
Medicaid, doctors are refusing to accept it all over.

That's odd considering 40% of all child births are paid for by Medicaid. That doesn't sound to me like "doctors refusing to accept it all over".

a reply to: AndyFromMichigan

Obamacare was a dead duck from the word go.
Weren't nothing going to fix that terrible program.
What legacy does Obama have? Nothing but failure.

originally posted by: alphabetaone

originally posted by: Grambler
Medicaid, doctors are refusing to accept it all over.

That's odd considering 40% of all child births are paid for by Medicaid. That doesn't sound to me like "doctors refusing to accept it all over".

There are tons of articles, but here is one.

Abstract: Academic literature has consistently illustrated that Medicaid patients—adults and children—have inferior access to health care, and notably poorer health outcomes, than privately insured patients. Due to the program's low reimbursement rates, more and more doctors are refusing to even accept Medicaid. As a result, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Medicaid patients to find access to primary and specialty care physicians. When Medicaid patients are admitted to hospitals, they are often admitted with more serious conditions than those with private insurance. By further expanding this broken program, Obamacare will only exacerbate the situation, continuing to harm many low-income Americans who have no option other than Medicaid. Policymakers should reform Medicaid to allow Medicaid patients access to private insurance in a consumer-driven market.

www.heritage.org...

Another more recent article.

Those dollars don't necessarily buy Medicaid beneficiaries access to care. Half of all doctors are not taking new Medicaid patients, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

When enrollees can’t get access to a doctor, they often head to emergency rooms. According to a Colorado Hospital report, ER usage has gone up 5.6% in expansion states but only 1.8% in non-expansion states.

For the lucky few who are able to see a doctor, there's no guarantee that Medicaid will improve their health. Researchers in Oregon studied a limited expansion of the state's Medicaid program. Their conclusion? While the expansion "did increase use of health care services," the study found that "Medicaid coverage generated no significant improvements in measured physical health outcomes."

www.forbes.com...