Administration Still Bailing Insurers Out of Obamacare Exchanges

The Obama Administration refuses to concede defeat in its struggle to save Obamacare’s exchanges. The exchanges lost one quarter of their members in 2015. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has reported its insurance plans have enrolled people significantly sicker (and more expensive) than anticipated. Finally, UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest insurer, will drop out of most of the exchanges in which it is participating.

Desperate to induce insurers to continue participating in exchanges, the Administration suggested it would make illegal payments from “risk corridors,” a risk-mitigation mechanism that moves money between insurers to stabilize their profits in Obamacare’s first three years. Republicans in Congress put a stop to that in 2014. So, the Administration proposes apparently illegal payments from another risk-mitigation fund, called “reinsurance."

Read more at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.