Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Collapse Of Co-Ops, Other Signs Of Market Instability Draw Concerns From Across The Spectrum
The latest turmoil in health insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act has emboldened advocates on both sides of the political spectrum, providing ammunition to conservatives who want to shrink the federal role and liberals who want to expand it. UnitedHealth Group rattled federal officials when it announced last week that it was losing money in the insurance exchanges .... Those concerns followed the collapse of 12 of the 23 nonprofit insurance cooperatives .... In addition, insurance markets in many states are unstable. Premiums are volatile. Insurers say their new customers have been sicker than expected. And the law is as divisive as ever. (Pear and Goodnough, 11/27)
The fate of a network of alternative co-op health plans started under Obamacare remains uncertain going into 2016, after half of them collapsed amid deep financial problems. (Singman, 11/28)
Mount Kisco Medical Group PC, in the Hudson Valley, provided care to more than 13,000 patients who used Health Republic Insurance of New York. But the insolvent insurer, which the state and federal regulators shut down in September, left the Mount Kisco medical practice with millions of dollars in unpaid claims, said Scott Hayworth, a physician and the groups president and chief executive. (Ramey, 11/27)
About 200,000 New Yorkers will see their Health Republic policies expire on Monday, marking the demise of the 12th health insurance co-op established under the Affordable Care Act. That's more than half of the 23 consumer operated and oriented plans that were created with federal loan money to promote competition on the state online exchanges selling insurance under the 2010 health care law. The 12 co-ops, which received $1.2 billion in taxpayer-funded loans, failed for a variety of reasons (Tumulty, 11/29)
Thousands of Americans are again searching for health insurance after losing it for 2016. Thats because health cooperatives large, low-cost insurers set up as part of Obamacare are folding in a dozen states. The failure of Colorados co-op has hit Rick and Letha Heitman hard. They are currently customers of the Colorado HealthOP, which is closing up shop at the end of the year. The couple, who own a contracting business, say the co-op proved to be a life-saver when Rick was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer last spring. (Daley and Cohen, 11/30)
