J. D. Heyes – He may not be a physician or corporate insurance executive, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbot is astute enough to understand a failing business model – and government policy – when he sees one.
Commenting on health insurance giant Aetna’s recent decision to pull out of most Obamacare-created health insurance exchange markets after losing more than $430 million since 2014, Abbott, in a tweet, noted the obvious:
Commentary: Aetna’s Obamacare pullout means the ‘insurance death spiral’ has arrived. Program is losing billions.
Indeed it has, and that was predicted. In fact, in 2014 we reported that Obamacare exchanges were already bleeding red ink, and that the entire concept behind the law – that young, healthy Americans would sign up in droves and thus offset the cost of caring for older, sicker Americans – was premised on a fallacy.
First and foremost, despite the fact that the law unconstitutionally requires Americans to purchase health insurance (regardless pf what the U.S. Supreme Court ruled), tens of millions of younger Americans are still not buying coverage, according to a May Modern Healthcare report. Part of the reason for that is because younger people tend to feel “invincible,” so health insurance is not viewed as an absolute necessity.