THAT MEANS IT’S WORKING: UnitedHealth Group to exit Obamacare exchanges in all but a ‘handful’ of states.

“We will be down to a handful of states that we will be actively participating in the exchanges,” Stephen J. Hemsley, chief executive officer of UnitedHealth Group said in an earnings call, noting that the small market size and greater expense of patients insured through the marketplaces led the insurer to make the decision.

UnitedHealth plans to withdraw from health insurance marketplaces in Arkansas, Michigan, Connecticut and parts of Georgia. The decision is a sequel to an announcement by executives late last year that the insurer had suffered financial losses and might leave the health exchanges altogether in 2017. UnitedHealth reported that it expects to lose $650 million in the exchanges in 2016.

UnitedHealth is only a minor player on the exchanges, yet the company still expects to lose most of a billion dollars just this year.

But UnitedHealth is hardly alone. Even the pro-ObamaCare Kaiser Family Foundation said that “Something has to give” on the exchanges, and that “Either insurers will drop out or insurers will raise premiums.”