The question now being asked about Obamacare is whether or not taxpayers will get stuck bailing out major health insurance companies if the companies end up losing money on Affordable Care Act (ACA) policies.
Late last week, House Republican leaders failed to vote to repeal that very ObamaCare bailout plan, and now "taxpayers could be on the hook for billions of dollars of payouts for ACA insurance policies that incur losses that exceed premiums collected," reported Investor's Business Daily.
Conservatives have urged a vote to repeal the bailout, but according to Investor's Business Daily sources, House leadership allegedly claimed it "ran out of time to hold a roll call vote."
Now conservative activists are wondering if the hidden motive was to avoid irritating the health insurance lobby by eliminating their safety net.
The concerns revolve around the ACA's "risk corridor" program, which "provides financial 'protection' against losses to insurers that sponsor exchange plans," and was devised to create a pool of funds from the profits of some insurers to offset the losses of others, said Investor's Business Daily.
"Under the program, if 'allowable costs' to an insurer top 103% of the 'target amount,' the feds subsidize half of those excess payments," said IBD. "The subsidy climbs to 80% of allowable costs that exceed 108% of the target amount. The potential liability to taxpayers is 'uncapped,' so the sky is the limit on losses."
But without these subsidized risk corridors, insurance companies would likely stop participating in the ACA and Obamacare could fail entirely.
That's where it turns into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac part two, according to insurance experts.
"The guarantee on bad mortgages encouraed bad mortgages. The guarantee against losses on Obamacare enrollees encouraces insurers to toss sound underwriting standards out the window," said IBD.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said the risk corridor program wasn't designed to be "budget neutral" and puts taxpayers at risk of a large bailout should insurers lost money on exchange plans.
IBD claims that congressional oversight hearings found that almost all insurers expect an Obamacare reimbursement check from the risk corridors in "excess of payments made," concluding, "If nearly all insurers are expecting a net cash payment, how can the program pay for itself?"
