Largest Insurer In Minnesota's Obamacare Exchange Is Pulling Out

Turns out, Obamacare isn’t good for business.

PreferredOne Health Insurance — which had the lowest costs and most customers of all the insurance companies in MNsure’s first year  — says it won’t participate in the state’s health care exchange next year.

A spokesman for PreferredOne, which is based in Golden Valley, told KSTP news that the withdrawal from MNsure is “purely a business decision,” and that continuing in the state’s exchange was “not administratively and financially sustainable going forward.”

The company’s withdrawal will have political ramifications on this November’s election, as Gov. Mark Dayton has been a big MNsure supporter, despite its rocky rollout.

State Republicans wasted no time in weighing in on the matter:

“Earlier this year, Gov. Dayton promised Minnesotans ‘we’re going to make this better.’ My question to Governor Dayton is: when? How long do Minnesotans have to wait?” said a statement from House Republican Minority Leader Kurt Daudt.

SAB readers will remember that North Dakota’s largest insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota, withdrew from this state’s expansion of Medicaid citing basically the same issues PreferredOne has.

The problem with Obamacare is that it tries to fix problems with run-away health care costs by mandating that insurance companies provide more and charge less. But that’s not how the marketplace works.

Obamacare is making health insurance, and health care, more expensive and harder to get.