UnitedHealth Group Inc., the largest U.S. health insurer, has decided to call it quits in two state Affordable Care Act markets in the latest challenge to President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul.
The insurer won’t sell plans for next year in Georgia and Arkansas, according to state insurance regulators. Tyler Mason, a UnitedHealth spokesman, confirmed the exits and declined to say whether the company would drop out of additional states.
UnitedHealth offers a variety of plans on the , through itself and an affiliated company.
Many insurers have found it difficult to turn a profit in the new markets created by the Affordable Care Act, where individuals turned out to be more costly to care for than the companies expected.
UnitedHealth and Aetna both posted losses from the policies last year, as did big Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in states like North Carolina.
as it racked up losses. In December, the company said it should have stayed out of the individual exchanges for longer.
UnitedHealth’s decision to stop offering ACA plans next year means that people who are currently enrolled with the insurer will have to choose a new health insurance provider next year. It doesn’t affect their current coverage.
While UnitedHealth is the biggest carrier in the United States, with about 42 million medical customers, it has a smaller role in the ACA’s markets. The company had about 650,000 in individual exchange-compliant policies as of Dec. 31.
About 12.7 million people signed up for health-law coverage for this year, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. CMS doesn’t disclose what insurers people picked.
