A major insurance company
 has decided to entirely
withdraw from all of
Obamacare‘s health
 insurance exchanges in
2018.
According to the 
Washington Examiner,
 the experience with
Obamacare has been
a financial disaster for
Aetna, one of the nation’s
largest insurance
companies. The insurance
 giant sustained almost
 $700 million in losses
between 2014 and 2016,
and an estimated $200
million in projected losses
for 2017.
Aetna joins a long line of
 insurers and health plans
 that have decided that the
individual markets designed
 in exquisite regulatory detail
 by the Obama
 administration and its
allies in Congress are no
 longer working.
As designed, they can’t
work. This is a feature, not
 a bug of Obamacare, and
 why Congress needs to
repeal and replace this 
dysfunctional law.


Aetna’s withdrawal follows
 a pattern. Insurers have
been losing money and
 dropping out of the
 individual markets. In 2013,
 before Obamacare’s
 insurance provisions were
enforced, there were 395
 insurers selling plans in
the individual markets
 throughout the United
States. By 2017, there
were just 218 insurers
selling plans in the
 Obamacare exchanges,
 a drop of 45 percent.
Part of the reason for the
declining number of
insurers is that
 Obamacare’s
 exchanges are
 disproportionately
 enrolling older and
sicker people, and
discouraging the
 enrollment of younger
 and healthier people.
That was not supposed to
 happen. The Obama
administration initially
 expected people aged
 18 to 34 to account for
 approximately 40 percent
of exchange enrollment.
Instead, the higher claims
costs of a larger-than-
anticipated number of older
 people have been jacking
 up the insurance premiums,
 further discouraging
 younger people from
 signing up for coverage.
This year, exchange
enrollees experienced
 another round of rate
shocks. Nationwide
 premiums for standard
 plans have increased by
 an average of 25 percent,
and people in those markets
 have experienced shocking
 deductibles
 ($6,092 for single
 and $12,383 for low-cost
 “bronze” coverage). Not
surprisingly, there are
 thus far 500,000 fewer
 exchange enrollees this
 year than there were last
 year.
Obamacare’s health
insurance regulations
are making the cost
increases worse. Based
on a 2015 examination
of the Affordable Care
Act’s regulations, rooted
 in a review of actuarial
 studies in the professional
 literature, Heritage
 Foundation analysts
estimated that the age-
rating rule increased
insurance premiums by
 about 33 percent for young
 people, and the mandated
benefits by about 9 percent.
Even Obamacare’s
individual mandate
penalties haven’t been
 enough to stimulate
 Americans to buy
coverage. The Obamacare
 penalties are a lot cheaper
 than the Obamacare
insurance costs. Based 
on 2015 data, for example,
 6.5 million people paid the
 mandate penalty and 12.7
million got exemptions.
The Senate needs to join
 the House and get to
 work on health care
reform. The sooner, the
better.