The United States’ Supreme Court decided to examine a case filed by health insurers against the federal government. According to Reuters, the health insurance companies are suing the U.S. government due to the $12 billion in losses they suffered because of a program launched by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also called Obamacare.
The said program urged insurers to provide medical policies for millions of Americans who did not have medical insurance until that time. Moda Health Plan, along with other insurance firms, is appealing for a verdict made by a lower court, allowing the Congress to defer federal responsibility to pay. According to the companies, this decision will deny them the payments due to them.
The case was filed in light of the accumulated billion-dollar losses they had since 2010 after Barack Obama implemented the ACA. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is meant to help the firms recuperate from the damages.
The ACA’s risk corridor program would have enabled the insurance companies to receive mitigation payments. The risk mitigation program should have covered losses incurred between 2014 and 2016.
However, Congress executed an appropriations bill that prevented the HHS from making risk corridor payments with general funds.
According to reports, a favorable edict by the Supreme Court will aid insurers through a major one-time cash infusion. Firms that would benefit from this include Humana, Anthem and Centene Corp. Reuters noted that the companies have already considered the payment values as losses.
Meanwhile, Moda chief executive officer Robert Gootee expressed the group’s confidence that the Supreme Court will implement the responsibility of the government.
Aside from Moda, companies who initiated the case include Maine Community Health Options, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, as well as Land of Lincoln Mutual Health Insurance Company.
