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October 18, 2017 at 06:34 AM
If the Trump administration goes through with a decision to end Affordable Care Act cost-sharing reduction subsidy payments today, that could hit Florida Blue and health insurers in Florida especially hard, according to data from Avalere Health.
Analysts at Avalere, a health data and data analysis firm, report that a mid-year end to cost-sharing reduction subsidy payments could cost individual health coverage issuers about $1 billion, and Florida issuers about $200 million.
Florida Blue covers more than half of Florida’s cost-sharing reduction subsidy users, and that means the looming $1 billion subsidy payment cut could cost that company alone about $100 million by the end of the year.
(Related: Trump Praises Deal to Trade Temporary ACA Cash for State Flexibility)
Florida Blue put out a statement saying it remains committed to offering Florida residents access to high-quality, affordable health coverage.
In spite of the possibility that cost-sharing reduction subsidy payments may end in the middle of the year, “we will make no changes to our existing ACA plan through 2017, and we’re going to absorb the financial impact of that decision,” the company says in the statement.
Cost-Sharing Reduction Subsidy
The cost-sharing reduction subsidy helps Affordable Care Act exchange plan users with family income under 250% of the federal poverty level handle health play deductibles, co-payments and coinsurance amounts.
The upper income limit is now about $30,000 for an individual in most parts of the country, and about $61,500 for a family of four.
The federal government pays the subsidy money straight to the coverage issuers, not to the enrollees.
Florida has been the biggest exchange plan market, with about 1.8 million exchange plan enrollees, and about 1.2 million cost-sharing reduction subsidy users.
