Modern Healthcare quoted Manatt’s Joel Ario, a managing director with Manatt Health, on the implications of the Trump administration’s decision to end federal-cost sharing reduction payments to insurers. According to the publication, this puts a spotlight on senators who are trying to craft a bill to fund those payments and stabilize the individual insurance market.
There are concerns about insurers in at least ten states, where carriers were told to set rates assuming they would receive cost-sharing reduction payments. In those states, there will be a scramble to redo the rates.
“Relatively small insurers may say, ‘If you don’t let me load the CSRs into the rates or allow me to withdraw, I may be insolvent by the middle of next year,’” said Ario. “That could be compelling to regulators.”
Ario also called the funding cutoff “the biggest wound yet to the stability of the ACA marketplaces,” since the subsidies enable millions of people to continue buying coverage.