CMS posts PPACA risk corridors program form

Critics of the risk corridors program describe at as a bailout for the insurers participating in the exchange program.

Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) has reported that it hopes to get about $51 million from the risk corridors program. The company estimates it will get $42 million from a second PPACA program — a risk-adjustment program that supposed to shift money from plans with enrollees with low risk scores to plans with enrollees with high risk scores — and $586 million from a third PPACA program — a reinsurance program that’s supposed to use money from a new health plan enrollee fee to help plans pay part of the bills of enrollees with very high claims.

Regulators in Iowa have said in a petition for a failed health insurer that the insurer was hoping to get a total of $75 million from the reinsurance and risk-adjustment programs, and $81 million from the risk corridors program.

PPACA lets the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) use government money to make the risk corridors program whole if money from high-margin QHP issuers falls short. HHS officials have said, however, that they want to try to run the program without putting in taxpayer money.

A provision in the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015, an emergency spending law, appears to keep HHS from adding government money to the program.