A Virginia-based insurance company says “considerable uncertainties” created by the Democrat’s health care overhaul will force it to close its doors by the end of the year.
The firm, nHealth, appears to be the first to claim that the new law has driven it out of business. “We don’t know what the rules are going to be and, as a start-up, our investors need certainty,” nHealth CEO and president, Paul Kitchen, told POLITICO. “The law created so much uncertainty that is beyond our control.”
In a letter to the company’s 50 or so employees last week, executive vice president James Slabaugh said nHealth has stopped accepting new group customers and will terminate all business by Dec. 31, 2010.
“The uncertainties in the regulatory climate coupled with new demands imposed by national healthcare reforms have made it challenging to sustain the level of sales required to remain viable over the long run,” Slabaugh wrote.
The company’s finger-pointing — first reported by Richmond Biz Sense — must be read with caution: For years now, health insurance brokers and employers alike have struggled to keep pace with steeply rising health care costs.
Full Story: Virginia-based company feeling effects of health care overhaul