Carriers start to position due to ACA

This is the first, but I am sure it won't be the last statement of its kind from carriers.  Look at the italics part of this quote from United Healthcare CEO. Quote of the Day

“We have nearly 70% of our 2013 business priced and the markets have been rational in our view, competitive but better than 2012 for us. We have been very steady in our pricing discipline year-to-year, consistently adhering to and aligning to our forward view of costs. And we take measured membership losses in instances where we cannot get our price, as we did in the commercial risk markets in 2012 and expect to again in 2013. We have included the ACA insurance tax and other ACA cost factors in our 2013 rate filings. We are working effectively with our state partners through the rate approval process. As always, some have been more challenging than others. At the end of the day we must price to our cost and if we conclude that a state’s posture on commercial insurance pricing is not economically sustainable, we will have no choice but to withdraw from that market. We have not been put in that position to date.” — Stephen Hemsley, president and CEO of UnitedHealth Group, discussing UnitedHealthcare’s 2013 pricing on a Jan. 17 fourth-quarter earnings conference call.