Insurance companies were doing just fine until Obamacare and it wasn't from gubmint money.
No, the claim that “insurance companies were doing just fine until Obamacare” is not accurate.
The individual health insurance market was in a deepening crisis for years before the Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed in 2010.
Here’s the evidence: Pre-ACA profitability was already collapsing in the individual market
- From 2008 to 2010, the combined ratio (losses + expenses ÷ premiums) for the individual market spiked above 100% for most large carriers, meaning they were losing money on every policy.
- Major insurers were either exiting the individual market entirely or restricting new enrollment:
- 2008–2009: Humana, Cigna, and WellPoint stopped writing new individual policies in multiple states.
- By 2010, 14 states had only one or two carriers left willing to sell individual policies to new applicants.
- Medical loss ratios (MLRs) in the individual market averaged 81% in 2009, but after overhead and profit targets, many carriers were underwater. Goldman Sachs issued a report in 2009 titled “Health Insurers: The End of an Era?” warning that the individual market was becoming uninsurable without reform.
Premiums were skyrocketing long before Obamacare
- Average individual-market premiums rose ~30% from 2006 to 2010 (AHIP and Kaiser Family Foundation data).
- In some states (e.g., Maine, Washington, Kentucky), annual premium increases exceeded 20% per year for five straight years pre-ACA.
Stock performance of health insurers tells the story.
The big for-profit insurers (UNH, AET, WCG, HUM, CI) actually hit multi-year lows in late 2008–early 2009 because Wall Street saw the individual market dragging down earnings. UnitedHealth’s CEO Stephen Hemsley warned investors in 2009 that “the small-group and individual segments remain challenged.”
What happened after ACA?After the main ACA provisions kicked in (2014):
- The same insurers posted record profits.
- Combined ratios fell below 90% in most years.
- The number of carriers participating in the individual market initially surged from ~150 in 2013 to over 300 in 2017.
Bottom line: Insurance companies were NOT “doing just fine” before Obamacare in the segment the law targeted (individual/marketplace coverage).
That market was in a classic death spiral—rising rates → healthier people dropping out → even higher rates → more exits by carriers.
The ACA rescued the individual market for insurers, which is why every major insurer lobby (AHIP) initially supported the bill).
The “doing just fine” talking point usually confuses the large-group and employer markets (which were profitable) with the individual market (which was imploding). They’re completely different risk pools.