The Trump administration on Saturday halted $10.4 billion in risk adjustment payments to insurance companies, citing two court rulings from this winter which found the allocations were calculated incorrectly.
Implemented as part of the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, the payments were managed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and were intended to offset costs for insurers with unusually ill and costly enrollees.
The suspension is temporary, but CMS has not issued a new allocation policy or indicated when payments will resume. The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the change, notes "some insurers might seek to 'reprice for the coming year' if it is clear they wouldn't be getting the expected money based on prior years' business."
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