UnitedHealth CEO regrets entering ObamaCare

[Jesus Malverde]

Source: The Hill

The CEO of UnitedHealthCare on Tuesday said he regretted the decision to enter the ObamaCare marketplace last year, which the company says has resulted in millions of dollars in losses.

“It was for us a bad decision,” UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley said at an investor’s meeting in New York, according to Bloomberg Business.

UnitedHealth, the country’s largest insurer, announced last month that it would no longer advertise its ObamaCare plans over the next year and may pull out completely in 2016 — a move that sent shockwaves across the healthcare sector.

Hemsley’s remarks double down on his earlier warning that the ObamaCare exchanges remain weaker than expected after two years and that it will take far longer for insurers to profit from the millions of new enrollees.


Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/261617-unitedhealth-ceo-regrets-entering-obamacare-marketplace

[Downtown Hound]

1. Hey Hemsley, maybe one day you'll be out on the street looking for a job

And find that you can't afford health care. Hey, one can dream.

Zero sympathy for these assholes. The day their industry no longer exists and we have universal health care will be a great day indeed.

[Jesus Malverde]

4. 13 billion in profits on 180 billion in revenue...nt

[still_one]

7. around 50 Billion every 5 years

[Joe Bacon]

30. F that pimp!

F him and F the insurance racketeers who put profit before people.

It's time to push for Sungle Payer and toss these goddamned pimps to the unemployment line!

[Downwinder]

2. Didn't he have a place at the table designing it?

[still_one]

3. This is old news. From a company that brings in 50 BILLION dollars every five years, and a CEO who

receives a huge compensation.

There is no doubt in my mind that if United Healthcare decides to exit the ACA, the other insurance companies will only be to glad to take up the slack. Actually, United Healthcare has been lagging behind other insurers for sometime, so I assume because of his deficient leadership he is just looking for a scape goat to justify his multi-million dollar salary.

That he didn't realize that it would take about five years for the ACA to have benefits for the insurers, only further highlights his inability to be an effective CEO.

For insurance companies, the ACA is an investment, that will realize gains as more folks sign up.

[47of74]

14. Place I work for switched away from UHC last year

They wanted too much money while cutting back on services over and over again. After what work saw what they wanted to even keep service levels the same they said no more of this and switched away from them.

[still_one]

23. Also, United HealthCare did not fully commit itself to the ACA, and only offerred their coverage in

selected markets, which is another reason it isn't working out for them

[tomm2thumbs]

5. In time, I'm sure we can Single-Payer you out of your misery Mr. Hemsley

Poor thang.... I can't imagine your poor management losing money on millions of new customers. Sounds like bad leadership, which usually trickles down, no?

[still_one]

6. That will be the eventual solution, but the other health insurers will have no problem taking up the

slack, and in fact will benefit from United Healthcare's departure

[mpcamb]

8. Hadn't planned on it being competitive with his little gold mine?

Hey, Steve, that's capitalism at it's finest.

[uppityperson]

9. UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley made more than $66 million in 2014

http://www.startribune.com/unitedhealth-ceo-stephen-hemsley-made-more-than-66-million-in-2014/298924971/

CEO Pay Watch UnitedHealth Group Inc.

Stephen Hemsley, CEO

Total compensation: $66,125,208 for the year ended Dec. 31, 2014

Salary: $1,300,000

Non-equity incentive pay: $3,949,000

[arcane1]

19. Brings a tear to the eye, doesn't it? The poor guy n/t

[LuckyLib]

31. United CEOs routinely make over $50 million per year.

Obscene, simply obscene. One day, when the revolution comes, you health insurance middlemen thieves will be out of business. One can dream . . .

[jtuck004]

10. Translation - "We used to be able to screw you like a pharma company, but we pissed everyone

off so they wrote a law that let's the pharma companies continue their economic terrorism and shaves ours. Doesn't matter how much, we would oppose 1 cent. That's just wrong.Your money is our money, and we want it. Lookin' forward to restored profits in the new year, or y'all can just die."

[still_one]

11. They weren't fully committed to it anyway, and were only in selected markets. Another reason the

CEO screwed up. Anthem and others are just going to take over the slack that this CEO who is looking for a scape goat to blame HIS deficiencies on

[valerief]

12. Fuck you, Helmsley. Fuckin' thief. nt

[PSPS]

13. "has resulted in millions of dollars in losses."

Exactly how many "millions of dollars in losses?" Also, how many millions were you paid last year?

[ProfessorGAC]

34. And, Is It Cherry Picking

Company is still going to make 13 billion in profits so these "losses" appear to be related only to the income from the ACA policies. Well, it's true in any business that some offerings are loss leaders so economies of scale help to assure continued profitability and growth. They're at 7.22% total net income. Not unbelievable, but quite healthy. So, if the "millions" are even 100 of them, profitability would have gone to 13.1 billion. That's 7.28%. Not much of a dent.

This is more a political statement by them, not a financial one.

[47of74]

15. After all we can't have regular people being able to get good health care, huh Mr. Hemsley?

To Hemsley and his ilk good health care is supposed to only be a privlege of the wealthy elite.

Like Alan Grayson said, for the rest of the people their idea of health care is don't get sick and if you do hurry up and die already.

[SmittynMo]

16. It will take far longer for insurers to profit?

So fucking what. Insuring Americans should be the issue, not profit.

Medicare for all. Eliminate the friggin insurance companies.

[Ferd Berfel]

17. Of Course he does - IT's working!

Shot himself in the foot

[arcane1]

18. " it will take far longer for insurers to profit from the millions of new enrollees."

Well at least he has his priorities in order

[jalan48]

20. A private insurance driven health care system. No required cost constraints. What could go wrong?

[dflprincess]

21. Of course it was a bad decision for them

the ACA requires that an insurer actually pay claims.

[IronLionZion]

22. DUers told me the PPACA guaranteed free profits

[Jesus Malverde]

26. My understanding was 20%

The margin on other customers might be better.

[Yupster]

32. There was a profit corridor created

Companies that made more than the corridor would kick in part of their extra profits into a special fund. Companies that didn't make enough to reach that corridor would be paid from that fund.

So what went wrong?

Companies aren't making as much as they thought. There are many more claims on the fund as there are money within it. The solution seems simple. The US general budget just needs to kick in enough to make it work at least for this year. The congress though has made it clear that they aren't going to vote an extra cent to the ACA.

What can be done?

Maybe the higher fines this year will get more healthy young people to sign up. It doesn't look like either side is willing to reopen the plan to major changes.

Many here just think the insurance companies should just eat the losses, but that's not reasonable. The CEO of any company has to do what's in the best interests of the owners of the company, the shareholders, not the uninsured or the old or the president. If it can put its money into a project that will yield a 12 % profit, rather than the 5 % another project might yield, it needs to do that even if that means leaving the ACA marketplace.

[Eat_The_Rich]

24. United Health

My heart pumps piss for United Health

[NCjack]

25. Cut the CEO's and COO's pay -- problem solved. /nt

[47of74]

27. Yeah, down to minimum wage.

That's one problem that'll go away.

[NCjack]

28. $1 per year. Running healthcare companies delivering relief

from pain and suffering should be charitable work done by people who have the love and means to do it.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

29. United Health was rated by the American trial lawyers association

As the worst, bar none, in dealing with claims. Life, tort, home or car claims? The absolute worst.

[dicksmc3]

35. Greedy Fucktard!!!

I bet losing all those millions didn't affect his 2 BILLION a year salary!! One more reason we need a SINGLE PAYER PLAN for all!! GO Bernie!!

[AngryAmish]

36. And Franny's is hiking prices

Ain't gonna stop me, tho.

[weknowvino2]

37. It's time to vote for our OWN interests

Health insurance is NOT health care!

Rinse, Repeat. Often.

[jwirr]

38. That goes two ways. We the people regret that insurance

companies were included in Obamacare also. Single payer is still needed.

[Zorra]

39. You ain't seen nothin' yet, Steve. Soon, we will have single payer public healthcare.

You'll be pining for the good old days of Obamacare like a Norwegian Blue pining for the fjords in a London pet store.