UnitedHealth to pull out of California PPACA market

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH), the largest insurance company in the United States, has announced it will withdraw from California’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) public exchange.

See also: California exchange head blasts UnitedHealth

UnitedHealth says it has submitted filings to sell on-exchange coverage only in Nevada, Virginia and New York state in 2017.

The company’s Harken Health unit will operate on a “limited basis” in Florida, Georgia and Illinois, according to an article published Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal. A reporter based on the article on a copy of a company bulletin published on a broker website.

UnitedHealth’s Harken unit builds plans around primary care clinics.

UnitedHealth began selling coverage through Covered California for the first time during the open enrollment period for 2016, and the company accounted for less than 1 percent of individual health coverage sales at the state-based exchange.

UnitedHealth reported heavy losses on its 2015 exchange plan operations and has warned that it expects to report heavy losses for its 2016 exchange plan operations.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) responded to the problems it had with its PPACA exchange operations in 2015 by selling its health insurance unit.