Insurance companies and industry analysts are still concerned about the future of the Affordable Care Act.
The CEO of insurance provider Aetna says it’s still too early to declare the federal health care program a failure but the company “continues to have serious concerns about the sustainability of the public exchanges.”
“Something has to give,” Larry Levitt, an expert from the Kaiser Family Foundation, said according to the Hill. “Either insurers will drop out or insurers will raise premiums.”
A report from February found that insurance companies lost money in 41 states in 2014, meaning they were profitable in only nine states that year.
Some analysts say the market could turn around once premiums rise and more young people sign up for programs.
Part of the problem now is that people who signed up after the act was approved are more expensive to insure. A study from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association found that the average medical costs for a new individual in 2015 were 22 percent higher than employer-based group members’.
UnitedHealth, a major insurer, has already threatened to leave government plans if it doesn’t start to see things turn around, and analysts worry others could follow.
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SOURCE: AOL
