As exchanges falter, team Obamacare fights for an insurer bailout

By Timothy P. Carney, Timothy P. Carney

Published December 20, 2015

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Until recently, the insurance giants saw Obamacare as a cash cow. They are now finding the law's insurance marketplaces to be sickly quagmires causing billions in losses.

In response, the Obamacare insiders — the wealthy and powerful operatives who alternate between top government jobs and top industry jobs — are hustling to find more bailout money for insurers. Republicans, if they are able to hold their ground in the face of lobbyist pressure, can block the bailout of Obamacare and its corporate clientele.

United Healthcare, the nation's largest insurer, last week announced it was suffering huge losses in the exchanges. "We cannot sustain these losses" UHC's CEO said in a conference call, saying conditions for the insurer were "worsening." The company forecast $700 million in losses on the exchanges. Fellow insurance giant Aetna also said it expected to lose money on the exchanges, and other insurers said enrollment was lower than they expected.