11/20/2013

Politico says that Obama told insurance companies "no bailout," only that there would be "sweeteners," also confuses two types of bailouts

The headline on Politico surely makes Obama look tough: "President Obama to insurers: No bailout."
President Barack Obama had some bad news for the insurance company CEOs who met him at the White House: His “fix” might cost them. 
Obama asked the CEOs to reinstate millions of Americans’ health insurance plans that were canceled because they fell short of coverage requirements under the law, according to two executives who attended the session Friday. 
The president offered the execs some sweeteners, but admitted they won’t necessarily add up to enough to cover the full brunt of added costs that the changes to the insurance market could create. . . .
But there is a bigger problem.  Two different issues are being confused.  Will the insurance companies be compensated for the additional costs that they face from Obama's new "fix" in letting people supposedly keep their insurance policies?  Obama claims that they won't be completely compensated.  Will insurance companies get compensated for losses that they suffer generally from participating in the Obamacare exchanges?  Yes.  On this second point is this op-ed by Senator Rubio in the WSJ:
Buried deep in the Department of Health and Human Services' press release that accompanied the president's Nov. 14 speech was this sentence: "Though this transitional policy was not anticipated by health insurance issuers when setting rates for 2014, the risk corridor program should help ameliorate unanticipated changes in premium revenue. We intend to explore ways to modify the risk corridor program final rules to provide additional assistance." . . . 
Subsequent regulatory rulings have made clear that the administration views this risk-corridor authority as a blank check, requiring no further consultation or approval by Congress. A final rule handed down in March by HHS and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services states: "Regardless of the balance of payments and receipts, HHS will remit payments as required under section 1342 of the Affordable Care Act." 
On Nov. 14, the American Academy of Actuaries issued a press release saying that President Obama's plan to reverse health-insurance cancellations "could lead to negative consequences for consumers, health insurers, and the federal government." More specifically, the academy said, "Costs to the federal government could increase as higher-than-expected average medical claims are more likely to trigger risk corridor payments." . . .
Politico has another article where they continue to confuse the two points.
The president has said there will be no bailout, telling insurance companies there is a limited amount of help the White House can provide. . . . 

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