Obamacare, unsustainable

The Bulletin: Oregon’s Health CO-OP will shut down at the end of this month after the company dramatically overestimated the amount of financial support it would receive from a federal program.
The departure of another health insurer leaves two carriers selling 2017 individual market policies, those who buy for themselves or their families, in Deschutes County: PacificSource Health Plans and Health Net Health Plan of Oregon.
As of March 31, 620 people in Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson counties were enrolled in Oregon’s Health CO-OP policies, roughly 70 percent of whom had individual policies. The company’s roughly 20,600 policyholders statewide will need to enroll in new policies by July 31 to secure new coverage by Aug. 1.
The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services, which regulates insurance, is taking action to shutter the carrier after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced last week the CO-OP owes about $900,000 to the federal risk adjustment program, which pays health insurers that take on a disproportionate number of sick enrollees under the Affordable Care Act. The CO-OP expected to receive about $5 million from the program.