UnitedHealth cuts outlook, casts doubt on exchanges

Associated Press

The nation’s largest health insurer is questioning its future in public insurance exchanges, the latest signal of major concerns about the online marketplaces that have helped the Affordable Care Act extend coverage to millions of people.

UnitedHealth Group said Thursday that it will scale back marketing for plans it sells on the exchanges and decide next year whether it will even stay in that business in 2017. It also cut its 2015 earnings forecast.

The announcements come a few weeks after several smaller, nonprofit insurance cooperatives said they would stop selling coverage on the state-based exchanges.

Insurers are struggling to attract enough healthy customers into their still-new exchange coverage to balance sicker patients who signed up for coverage quicker because they use a lot of health care.