UnitedHealthcare Pulling Out Of Illinois As ACA's Plans Costs Are Too High

UnitedHealthcare (Nyse: UNH) is cutting Affordable Care Act plans in Illinois beginning in 2017, the Chicago Tribune reported. The cut in plans will reduce coverage in 27 counties.

The insurance company is pulling out of the state due to more than expected losses due to covering a sicker than expected population. President Barack Obama's ACA plans are but a small portion of UnitedHealthcare's total revenue. A spokesperson for the company confirmed it is withdrawing from the state.

On Tuesday, UnitedHealthcare declared it would only offer plans on the ACA exchange in three states: Nevada, New York and Virginia. The plans will be active until the end of the year and the company's subsidiary Harken Health will continue to offer ACA plans in a limited scope in Illinois and Georgia.

UnitedHealthcare had almost 795,000 total ACA exchange enrollees at the end of the first quarter. At the end of last year it had only 22,000 individual members in Illinois.