“Despite a brief payment freeze last summer, the Affordable Care Act’s risk adjustment program “operated smoothly” last year, according to new data from the Trump administration.”
“The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a report (PDF) on Friday analyzing the performance of the risk adjustment program and found that 572 insurers offering ACA plans participated in the program in 2018, down from 654 in 2017.”
“Of the participants, 552 received a risk adjustment transfer—excluding high-cost risk pool—and 20 were hit with a charge in at least one pool, according to the report. Across the country last year, the value of risk adjustment transfers was equal to about 6% of premiums, compared to 8% of premiums in 2017.”
“In total, transfers equaled $10.4 billion last year, with half funds collected by CMS and the other half money disbursed to insurers. Risk adjustment payments are mandated to be budget neutral.” Read the full article here.
Source: CMS: ACA risk adjustment ran ’smoothly’ in 2018 – By Paige Minemyer, July 2, 2019. Fierce Healthcare.
