Freedom-Hater-care co-ops: losing (your) money big-time

This story combines several themes that we frequently examine here at LITD: The general shakiness of the co-op model, compared to the normal-people corporation, the chasm-sized gap between leftists' purported intentions and the actual results of their policies, the record of the Most Equal Comrade's regime of pissing away taxpayer money on goofy schemes.

Check out these numbers:

According to a Health Department watchdog report, almost all of the Obamacare "co-op" health insurers are losing money, a fact that threatens to leave a large portion of their $2.4 billion in federal loans unpaid. 

Under the increasingly ironically-named Affordable Care Act, the government gave start-up loans to nonprofit co-ops that were intended to be sustainable in the healthcare market. As it turns out, not so much. 

The report, released Thursday, found that 21 of the 23 co-ops nationwide were hemorrhaging money, with only one actually making a profit. Additionally, enrollment for 13 of the co-ops is below projections (nine are ahead, but all but two of those still behind financially). 

The report warns that the "low enrollments and net losses" of most of the insurers—including Kentucky's, which lost a stunning $50 million—is making it increasingly unlikely that they will be able to repay all of the $2.4 billion in federal loans, leaving taxpayers on the hook.

Along with Kentucky's abysmal numbers, Arizona’s co-op only managed to enroll 869 people. It's goal was 24,000. Several co-ops have already been shut down due to financial struggles, including those in Louisiana, Iowa, and Nebraska. 

How's this for some lame spin?

"As with any new set of business ventures, it is expected that some CO-OPs will be more successful than others," said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), "but CMS will continue to actively monitor each CO-OP's progress, and remains committed to facilitating access to affordable, high-quality health insurance for all Americans." CMS also insisted that it would use "any and all remedies " to collect the debt from the failing co-ops. 

That's so reassuring.  Glad to know Leviathan doesn't want to see my money wasted.