Supreme Court says Congress must pay insurers billions under ObamaCareThe Hill, Apr 27, 2020
Congress must keep its promise to give insurers billions of dollars in unpaid ObamaCare funds, the Supreme Court ruled Monday.
The 8-1 decision on the $12 billion risk corridor program is a victory for insurers, but comes well after the funding could have had an impact on the ObamaCare law.
The risk corridor program was meant as a temporary financial incentive that Congress offered insurers to stabilize premiums and encourage participation in the insurance exchanges. The program sought to discourage insurers from setting premiums high by protecting those with sicker customers then expected.
Insurers that made money were supposed to pay into a fund, which was used to reimburse plans that lost money. However, insurers quickly lost money and the program paid out more than it took.
But Republicans called the program an insurer "bailout," and introduced measures that prohibited the use of taxpayer dollars to fund the program, which sharply reduced the amount of funds available for reimbursement payments.
According to experts, the decision destabilized the marketplace for years as insurers fled the exchanges or jacked up premiums.
But the justices on Monday said that Congress had an obligation to pay.
https://thehill.com/regulation/494788-supreme-court-says-congress-must-pay-insurers-billions-under-obamacare
