UnitedHealth Group to exit Obamacare exchanges in all but a ‘handful’ of states

UnitedHealth Group, the nation's greatest health insurer, stated on the day of Tuesday that in the year 2017 it will exit most of the 34 states where it offers policies on the Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges.

"We will be down to a handful of states that we will be actively engaging in the exchanges," Stephen J. Hemsley, chief executive officer of UnitedHealth Group claimed in an earnings call, noting that the small market size and greater expense of sufferers insured through the marketplaces led the insurer to make the decision.

UnitedHealth plans to withdraw from health insurance marketplaces in Arkansas, Michigan, Connecticut and parts of Georgia. The decision is a sequel to an declaration by executives late initial year that the insurer had suffered financial losses and might leave the health exchanges altogether in the year 2017. UnitedHealth reported that it hopes to lose $650 million in the exchanges in the year 2016.