Congress Must Approve Insurance Company Bailouts

[Geee]

Heartland:

Insurance companies made out well with passage of the Affordable Care Act, getting a major expansion in the size of the market thanks to the law’s mandate that most Americans buy health insurance, either through their job or through one of the new exchanges.

 

On top of that were provisions in the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, allowing the government to bail out any insurer that finds itself in the red before 2016.

 

But taxpayers may get a break from having to directly subsidize insurers for losses if Congress doesn’t go along with funding the “risk corridors” program that bails out insurers over the next two years if they end up losing money.

 

“Language appropriating funds for ‘other responsibilities of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ would need to be included in the (Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services’ Program Management) appropriation for FY 2015 in order for it to be available for payments to qualified health plans,” wrote Susan A. Poling, general counsel for the Government Accountability Office, in a memo to members of Congress on September 30.

 

In plain language, Poling concluded Congress has to specifically appropriate funds for the risk corridor program starting in 2015 as part of the annual budget bill for CMS. Given Republican control of both the House and the Senate, such an appropriation is likely to face serious obstacles.

 

"The law requires appropriations for risk-corridor payments. As a result of the election, Republican majorities in both chambers can ensure that no further appropriations are made for risk corridors" concluded John R. Graham, a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis, who has closely followed the debate over the risk corridor program.