Discussion for article #243789
I have to askā¦ Rubio doesnāt seem interested enough, by his own admission heās āboredā, I have to wonder who really came up with this that he isnāt giving credit toā¦
was it someone on his staff? something he overheard?
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Rubio taking credit for someone elseās work? Say it aināt so, Shoeless Joe.
The whole of the ACA is the health care finance equivalent of a Rube Goldberg machine. Why canāt we have single-payer? Oh, yeah ā the GOTeaParty is the reason we canāt have nice things. They even want to destroy the sort-of nice things we do have.
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Just curious: has anyone done a study or report on the impact of this action on healthcare premiums? Did it result in insurers on the exchange jacking up their rates?
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Thanks, Darcy.
Hey Randy
Vox story didnāt really answer your question. Came across this recently. Read it out of curiosity as I had never heard of it.
Big shortfall in Obamacare risk program could hurt insurers
By Tami Luhby
CNN Money, October 2, 2015
A key federal program designed to cushion health insurersā risks in the Obamacare exchanges has a massive shortfall, which could throw some insurers into financial turmoil.
Insurers requested $2.87 billion in so-called ārisk corridorsā payments for 2014, but will only receive $362 million, or 12.6%, said the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which oversees Obamacare.
The risk corridors programās goal is to help insurers transition into the individual exchanges, which opened in 2014. Insurers had a tough time setting premiums since they didnāt know how sick their new customers would be.
Under the three-year program, insurers whose premiums exceeded claims pay into the fund, while their peers who didnāt charge enough premiums to cover claims could draw from it.
But too many insurers miscalculated when they set their rates for 2014.
āInsurers underestimated the riskiness of their customer base and set their premiums too low,ā said Tim Jost, a health law professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law.
The shortfall could put a financial strain on some insurers, especially some smaller ones who were counting on the funds. Some firms have reported losses in their Obamacare line of business, while four health insurance cooperatives are shutting down because of financial pressures.
Obamacare insurers have already set their premiums for 2016 and canāt adjust them now. The shortfall in risk corridor payments could prompt insurers to raise premiums in future years or exit the program.
The administration said the remaining 2014 risk corridor claims will be paid out of the 2015 and, if needed, the 2016 collections.
Insurers are still getting billions from two other Obamacare risk programs. They will receive $7.9 billion from the reinsurance program, designed to spread the cost of very large insurance claims across all insurers. And they will receive $4.6 billion from the risk adjustment program, which requires insurance companies with healthier consumers in a state to help offset some of the costs of those insurance companies with sicker customers in that state.
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Thanks, Darcy,