Obamacare is unsustainable -- the backbone could collapse, expert warns

“Mark Bertolini [CEO] and Aetna can afford to lose $300 million in Obamacare. They are going to report profits into the billions of dollars this year,” Laszewski said. “But these regional Blue Cross plans and regional HMOs, they are also in order of magnitude of $100 to $300 million a year. I’m seeing this daily.”

Unfortunately, regional organizations do not have the profits or surplus to continue for more than a year, according to Laszewski. He expects most plans to stay in the Obamacare exchanges through 2017.

“If we don’t get some very significant fixes to Obamacare, the math is simple. These plans can’t continue the way it’s going. And that undermines the coverage that all of these people have gotten,” he said.