Maine Reinsurance Program Gets 1332 Waiver
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) this
week approved a Section 1332 waiver
for Maine to implement a five-year reinsurance program for the individual
health insurance market beginning in 2019.
[from Maine Hospital Association's Friday Report]
Maine had asked the federal government for permission to
re-establish the Maine Guaranteed Access Reinsurance Association (MGARA), a
high-risk pool that helped tamp down insurance premiums before it was made
obsolete by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
When the ACA was first enacted, it had provisions for high-risk pools
but that portion of the law expired and Congress has not re-enacted them.
MHA submitted testimony
in favor of the waiver. While a
regulatory hurdle has been eliminated by the waiver, the program still faces
challenges. Insurers are nervous about
the program. Meetings, which MHA plans to
attend, will be held to hammer out the details of the program. The MGARA board will have to vote to resume
the program and, depending on the details of the new program, legislation may
be required.
During the 18 months that the MGARA was operational, the
average cost of health insurance on the individual market in Maine
decreased. Consumers don’t know that
they’ve been assigned to the MGARA pool, which is funded by a $4 per member,
per month payment.
|