The CEO of UnitedHealthCare on Tuesday said he regretted the decision to enter the ObamaCare marketplace last year, which the company says has resulted in millions of dollars in losses."It was for us a bad decision," UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley said at an investor's meeting in New York, according to Bloomberg Business.
| Too bad nobody warned them, huh... |
It was only a shock to those that weren't paying attention
Hemsley's remarks double down on his earlier warning that the ObamaCare exchanges remain weaker than expected after two years and that it will take far longer for insurers to profit from the millions of new enrollees.
The company had already eyed ObamaCare's federal marketplace cautiously since it launched in 2013. UnitedHealth only began selling plans on the exchanges last year. Now, UnitedHealth officials have said that move will result in a half-billion dollars in losses over two years.
Hemsley said it was smart to sit out of the exchanges for the first year, but that the company should have held out another year.
Should have held out forever
"In retrospect, we should have stayed out longer," he said, adding that he believes the marketplace will take more than "a season or two" to develop.
Or forever.
"We did not believe it would form this slowly, be this porous, or become this severe," he said.
Then you weren't paying attention and don't deserve to be the CEO. It is designed to fail and take you and your ilk with it.