‘Risk adjustment’ payouts frozen

Health insurers and Covered California officials are facing another curveball from the Trump administration on the Affordable Care Act that could rattle the insurance market. In early July, Seema Verma, administrator for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said she was suspending a $10 billion program that helps stabilize the insurance markets created under the health law. She said the "risk adjustment" ... (More)

Enrollment privacy bill signed

California's Obamacare customers who don't complete their application forms won't be hearing from insurance agents in the future, as the governor signed a bill that bars sharing of their data with private companies. Sponsor state Sen. Joel Anderson's statement about the signing said: "Before this bill, Covered California shared consumers' personal information with private companies without permission due to a security loophole, ... (More)

State: Insurers misled consumers

State regulators say Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California provided "untrue" or "misleading" information about physicians connected with their health care policies sold via Covered California. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield account for more than half of the business done on the state Obamacare health-care exchange. Both of the insurance giants responded that there were problems with the state's methodology, but admitted ... (More)

Auditor: Covered Calif. working

The health insurance market Covered California has made "great strides" in preparing for the Oct. 1 start of business, but "critical work and some concerns remain," according to the state auditor. The individual insurance exchange, a nationwide leader in enactment of the Affordable Care Act, was nonetheless added to the auditor's list of "high‐risk issues" for state government. The success and sustainability of the Affordable Care ... (More)