While ObamaCare hasn’t grabbed many headlines in 2016, a string of national healthcare providers announced plans to depart from the marketplace by the end of the year. In Wisconsin, insurance giants Humana and UnitedHealthcare are exiting the individual marketplace. 6,639 Wisconsinites insured by Humana will have their coverage terminated, and consumers in 56 of the state’s 72 counties will lose their coverage under UnitedHealthcare. Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield will exit the exchange Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties – and will reduce the number of available plans in 34 other counties.
Running parallel to the national trend, three major ObamaCare insurance providers in Wisconsin have asked for rate hikes of 30 percent or more, and who can blame them? Providers are losing hundreds of millions of dollars per year by participating in the ObamaCare exchanges. The reduction in competition among these providers means rates will continue to increase and options to healthcare consumers will continue to decrease.
Russ Feingold – who cast the deciding vote to pass ObamaCare and was a top surrogate for President Obama in Wisconsin – has remained silent on the impact the failed healthcare law is having on families across the state. It would benefit Senator Feingold to take a break from raising millions of dollars in California and Washington and come clean to Wisconsin about the fairy tale he sold us in 2010.