ObamaCare isn't on the ballot, but the fate of it certainly is. Every GOP candidate but one (Governor John Kasich, Ohio) vows to repeal the president's failure of a health care system -- to the delight of most insurance companies. After UnitedHealth apologized to its shareholders for getting involved in the health care exchanges, other CEOs are coming out of the shadows to blast the bill.
Although Aetna hasn't taken a $1 billion hit like UnitedHealth, the third largest health care provider is no fan of the law. After the company's fourth quarter earnings were released, CEO Mark Bertolini joined a group of increasingly vocal providers casting doubt on ObamaCare's future -- and their partnership in it. "We continue to have serious concerns about the sustainability of the public exchanges," Aetna's Mark Bertolini said soberly. "We remain concerned about the overall stability of the risk pool."
So far, the reviews on the un-Affordable Care Act have been brutal, from insurers and consumers -- whose enrollment fell seven million shy of the target originally set by the administration. Although Aetna is not threatening to drop out of the exchanges just yet, Bertolini knows the company is struggling to cope with the losses. Like Walmart executives, who joined the corporate cheering section for the system early on, ObamaCare's supporters are learning a painful lesson: when you violate the principles of the free market (as this law does) and flirt with socialism, you'll pay. Just as we call on political leaders to advocate and demand free market policies, we call on business leaders too.
With enrollment down in the exchanges and the support around it collapsing, no one can afford to subsidize a market that's overrun by sick and high-risk patients. If the titans of the U.S. insurance industry walk away, the government's system is in for an even bigger shock. Ironically, most providers decided to back ObamaCare because they were told how good it would be for business. Years later, they see that ObamaCare isn't just bad for business, it's bad for America.
Today, House and Senate leaders are trying to right that wrong by taking one more stab at overturning the law in a veto override vote this afternoon. Although its prospects are dim, we applaud the conservative members and senators for creating an important precedent that a pro-life, pro-free market president can take advantage of a year from now to overturn this disaster of a law.
