A central element of President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law is ailing, some industry experts say.
The government-backed online insurance exchanges have helped 17 million previously uninsured Americans enroll in health plans. However, concerns over the marketplaces' viability are growing among health insurance practitioners and former policymakers, according to the Financial Times.
"It's a thrown-together system that is showing some signs of failing," Joe Minarik, a senior economist in former President Bill Clinton's administration and who is at the Committee for Economic Development, told the Financial Times.
The present issue stems from the formula at the heart of the ACA, which is that previously uninsured people on the exchanges would incite competition among insurers, which would, in turn, drive down premium rates for customers. Now insurers and policymakers worry there are too many sick people enrolled in health plans through the exchanges, and not enough affordable insurance options, according to the report.
For instance, UnitedHealth lost $720 million on the exchanges in 2015 and is considering pulling out of them entirely. Other insurers have hiked up premiums to cover the costs of an unexpectedly large unhealthy population, and more than half of the insurance co-ops created under the ACA have failed.
Healthcare experts have pointed out two weaknesses on the exchanges that are beginning to emerge. The first has to do with size, as the exchanges are divided up by state and those with small populations are less attractive to insurers, Mr. Minarik told the Financial Times.
The second weakness is the ability for the uninsured to enroll in an insurance plan after the open enrollment period ends through "special enrollment," which insurers say destabilize the markets and contribute to rising premiums.
The Obama administration has acknowledged the concerns surrounding the exchanges, and Andy Slavitt, acting administrator of CMS, announced steps to strengthen enrollment rules and improve the redistribution of funds to insurers who are taking higher risks on the exchanges, according to the report.