Modern Healthcare quoted Manatt's Joel Ario, a managing director with Manatt Health, for an article on the two-year omnibus spending bill that the House of Representatives passed in March. Excluded from the bill is funding for cost-sharing reduction payments and a federal reinsurance program.
Ario agreed that funding for a reinsurance program would have sent a positive signal to insurers participating in the individual market. However, he said, many plans that raised premiums for 2018 to account for the loss of the cost-sharing payments are now profitable, which means they’re more likely to keep selling plans.
“They are starting from a better position on the balance sheet, so I’m still hopeful we’ll have good participation in the ACA-compliant market,” Ario said.
Read the article here.