UnitedHealth's Warning shows Medicaid taking over Obamacare.

Posted: Nov 19, 2015

a Medicaid marketplace. Not only in terms of the design and quality of the narrow-network plans that are being offered, but in the actual carriers that sell those policies. Obamacare's costly regulations mean that the mix of people who sign up are tending to be older and sicker. Many young and otherwise healthy individuals continue to be priced out of the exchanges, even after the benefit of federal subsidies are baked into their costs. Meanwhile, it's the Medicaid managed care companies that are growing the number of plans they market on the exchanges. They are also offering the best prices. The cheap health plans that they end up selling on the exchanges mirror what they offer in Medicaid – in terms of the skinny doctor networks, the closed drug formularies, as well as the basic design of the austere health coverage. In short order, Obamacare is evolving into a Medicaid marketplace. Not only in terms of the design and quality of the narrow-network plans that are being offered, but in the actual carriers that sell those policies. ;