Senate health committee chairman: ‘Obamacare is falling apart’

The decision by BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee to withdraw from Nashville, Memphis and Knoxville is more evidence that Obamacare is falling apart,” the Senate health committee chairman said yesterday.

“More than 131,000 Tennesseans who buy their insurance on the Obamacare exchange will lose their current insurance policy and have to scramble to find another policy,” U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said in a statement. “This is more evidence that Obamacare is falling apart.

“Short term, we need to give families the opportunity to use their Obamacare subsidies to buy a policy for 2017 outside of the exchange,” Alexander added. “Longer term, regardless of who the new president is, we need to replace Obamacare with insurance choices that allow Tennesseans to select low-cost insurance that fits their budget and their health care needs.”

Regarding its decision, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, the largest insurer in Tennessee, told The Tennessean, “It’s not something we want to do but we believe we must look out for the health care and financial security for all the members that we serve. … The prospect of future losses has us in a place where we believe we need to reduce our risk in hopes that this marketplace will stabilize at some point.”