Ali Meyer of the Washington Free Beacon documents disturbing news for fans of the Affordable Care Act.
Only a third of Obamacare co-ops are still in operation after two more co-ops announced they were closing their doors in the past week.
Connecticut’s co-op, HealthyCT, was placed under an immediate order of supervision on July 5 after being forced to pay $13.4 million for the Affordable Care Act’s risk adjustment program.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services initially awarded HealthyCT $75.8 million in June 2012, then awarded it $3.8 million in November 2013 and $48.4 million in September 2014. …
… Three days later, the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services announced it would place Oregon’s Health Co-Op in receivership and liquidate the company’s assets. The co-op lost $18.4 million in 2015 due to medical claims and individual policies and owes $900,000 to pay for Obamacare’s risk adjustment program. The co-op was awarded a total of $56.7 million from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. …
… The two failed co-ops in Oregon and the failed co-op in Connecticut join 12 other co-ops that have failed in Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah, as well as a co-op that served both Iowa and Nebraska.
This leaves only eight co-ops in existence out of the 23 initially created under Obamacare.
A professor who specializes in economics and health insurance predicted this would happen, telling lawmakers in March that it was likely the remaining co-ops would close. At that time, there were 11 co-ops still in operation.
“The future of the 11 co-ops still providing coverage in 2016 is uncertain, but future closures seem likely,” Dr. Scott Harrington, a professor at the Wharton School, told lawmakers at a Senate hearing.
