Michigan is Next Exit for UnitedHealth

Just a week after revealing it will no longer participate in Affordable Care Act plans in Arkansas and Georgia, UnitedHealth Group says it is bowing out of Michigan plans backed by the ACA (or “Obamacare”), as well. The company, which started warning that low profitability associated with ACA exchanges made doing business through them untenable months ago, will cease to carry such plans in the three states at the end of this year. Anyone currently enrolled in affected UnitedHealth plans will have to search for another insurer doing business under the ACA, while the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services continues to hope UnitedHealth is not leading a parade of major carriers making their own exits. While it’s the largest insurer in the U.S. overall, UnitedHealth’s stake in the ACA exchange market is smaller than Aetna’s and Anthem’s.