Faced with “a continuing deterioration in individual exchange-compliant product performance,” a.k.a. ObamaCare, America’s largest insurer may abandon Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement. In a Thursday news release, UnitedHealth Group lowered revenue estimates and said it “has pulled back on its marketing efforts for individual exchange products in 2016.” But the report also hinted at the possibility of more drastic measures, as the firm “is evaluating the viability of the insurance exchange product segment and will determine during the first half of 2016 to what extent it can continue to serve the public exchange markets in 2017.” In laymen’s terms, UnitedHealth Group is putting ObamaCare on notice.

The withdrawal would represent ObamaCare’s biggest loss to date. Chief Executive Officer Stephen J. Hemsley said, “In recent weeks, growth expectations for individual exchange participation have tempered industrywide, co-operatives have failed, and market data has signaled higher risks and more difficulties while our own claims experience has deteriorated.” He later told reporters, “We cannot sustain these losses. We can’t really subsidize a marketplace that doesn’t appear at the moment to be sustaining itself.” Nor can others. And that causes a compounding effect. The Washington Examiner points out, “If UnitedHealth and other insurers decide to exit, remaining insurers will be forced to take on even more high-risk enrollees, prompting them to either raise rates further or exit themselves. That in turn would deprive individuals of choices and remove competition, a key purpose of the exchanges.” This death spiral was predicted by many cleared-eyed analysts even before ObamaCare was rammed through Congress without a single Republican vote. What’s more concerning is the “fix” that Democrats will no doubt prescribe next.