From the last Morning Jolt of the week:
One of Obamacare’s Biggest Supporters Finds It Unworkable, Pulls Out
Dear health insurance companies… get yourself out of this mess. We tried to stop you from going down this path, and you didn’t listen.
They fought Obamacare skeptics, and paid a lot of money to do it.
Despite the worst recession since World War II, businesses spent more than $1 billion lobbying on health reform in 2009, a sharp increase from 2008.
Blue Cross/Blue Shield led the league in lobbyist spending, shelling out $15.13 million in 2009, up more than 25 percent from 2008. AHIP shelled out another $8.85 million, while United Health Group added $4.86 million, and Aetna Inc. spent $2.84 million.
One of their top guys is actually running administration of Obamacare these days:
The UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive whose Optum division helped states and the federal government fix Obamacare health exchanges will become second-in-command at the agency that runs the U.S. program.
Andy Slavitt, Optum’s group executive vice president, was named principal deputy administrator at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. officials said. The company he comes from, UnitedHealth, is the nation’s largest health insurer.
The ties between UnitedHealth Group and the Obama administration run deep:
Anthony Welters, a big donor to and campaign bundler for Obama, as well as a regular White House guest, is the Executive Vice President of the giant insurance company UnitedHealth Group. According to proxy statements filed for the 2012 fiscal year, Mr. Welters made $7,411,084 in total compensation. As part of his duties, he serves as the Chief Executive Officer and President of AmeriChoice Corporation, which he had led when the privately held Medicaid services provider was sold to UnitedHealth Group in 2002. As discussed below, AmeriChoice and its predecessor company under Welters’ leadership has had its share of legal challenges.
Welters and his wife have bundled hundreds of thousands of dollars of contributions for Obama’s campaign coffers and inauguration festivities, as well as making their own large donations to Obama and other Democrats. His company UnitedHealth Group spent millions of dollars lobbying for Obamacare. All these investments are paying off big-time.
United Health Group owns the software company that built a critical component of the Obamacare website, and which has now been called in to serve as the new general contractor in charge of fixing the beleaguered site. The UnitedHealth Group subsidiary, Quality Software Services Inc. (QSSI), has already been paid an estimated $150 million, with millions more to come as it bills the taxpayers for remedial and general contractor services.
In other words, there are few institutions in the country who have had more influence into the creation of Obamacare and its implementation. They’ve had access at the highest levels throughout this process. And now?
The nation’s largest health insurer warned Thursday that it may pull out of the Obamacare exchanges after 2016 – forcing more hundreds of millions of people to find other coverage – after low enrollment and high usage cost the company millions of dollars.
The possible move by UnitedHealth Group raises new questions about the viability of President Obama’s signature health law and follows the departure of more than half of the non-profit insurance cooperatives this year. If UnitedHealth drops out, consumers would lose one of the lowest-cost plans available in much of the country, and some wonder how smaller insurers could fill the void.
“If they can’t make money on the exchanges, it seems it would be hard for anyone,” said Katherine Hempstead, who heads the insurance coverage team at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Look, up in the sky… is that… is that… a death spiral?
