Wednesday, November 30, 2016

An Update on The Risk Corridor - Death Spiral Edition

I've written about Obamacare's Risk Corridor provision many times. From the Rubio Amendment to Suing for the Slush Fund we have learned that not only was government funding this leg of the 3R's likely illegal but it was also never going to be budget neutral. In fact we can conclude from the year-to-year view that the losses insurers are incurring through Obamacare marketplaces are on an expedited death spiral.

Recently (and quietly) released payment and charge amounts show just how far off of budget neutral this mess really is. More concerning, what every insurer thought was bad last year is even worse this year. And. It's. Not. Even. Close.

In two years this temporary program that was budget neutral (allegedly) has lost a total of $7,871,900,000. Payments due to insurers have more than doubled from 2014 to 2015 and revenues have been reduced by almost 75%. With numbers like this how much longer can insurers remain before they are put on life support?
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