Troubled Iowa insurer CoOportunity Health may be liquidated

[PoliticAverse]

CoOportunity Health, the two-year-old Iowa health insurance cooperative set up with federal loans under the Affordable Care Act, is running out of money and may be liquidated, which raises questions for other health insurance cooperatives nationally.

The company’s 120,000 individual and group customers, most of them in Nebraska and the rest in Iowa, are still covered if they signed up before Dec. 15 and should continue paying premiums to keep coverage in effect, said Nick Gerhart, Iowa’s insurance commissioner.

But he recommended that policyholders switch to other insurance companies during open enrollment, which ends Feb. 15. People who enroll in new health plans by Jan. 15 would have that coverage in place by Feb. 1.

Read the rest at: http://www.omaha.com/money/troubled-iowa-insurer-cooportunity-health-may-be-liquidated/article_825f0962-8b7d-11e4-b6d3-ef7555754633.html

[progressoid]

1. Seems to me one or two Iowa DUers had Coop Health.

The co-ops were apparently hamstringed by insurance companies

...Consumers may have not heard much about co-ops as an option, because opposition from the insurance industry forced the government to offer loans instead of grants to the co-ops, and to forbid co-ops from using any loan money to market their businesses.
...
But limits on co-ops may make it hard for them to repay the $2 billion in federal loans they have received, said Kev Coleman, head of data and research at HealthPocket, a company that compares and rates health insurance plans.

"They have a series of challenges," he said. "They don't have existing brand awareness; they have a lot of administrative work to do to meet regulations; and they don't have existing revenue."

Co-ops also lack the leverage to negotiate lower prices with health care providers that big insurance companies have, Coleman said...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/19/coops-poised-as-new-insurance-option/4292657/

[rurallib]

2. one of the hidden surprises in the CRomnibus

Friend of mine has a real good take on it here:
http://pauldeaton.com/2014/12/26/aca-resilience-to-be-tested/

Seems to me like this may be a test for the repugs on how to sneak little bombs inside of big bills.
I think CRomnibus was over 2,800 pages.

[IADEMO2004]

3. Thanks Congress for the double deductible in 2015. Just what we didn't need.

Wife with pancreatic cancer burns through the deductible in less than 30 days and now we get to start a new deductible in February. Thousands of dollars. The timing of this a week after enrollment closes is so ...................................

[justgamma]

4. Guess I'm just screwed.

Cobra ended in Feb. 2014. No problem due to ACA. Picked Coventry plan. Welcome to group. Paid premiums for 6 months. Got a notice saying whoops there are no plans available for this area. Pick another carrier. Only one left was Cooportunity. picked a plan. Welcome to the group. Got a bill for the 6 months I had been paying the other ins. co. Many phone calls later,they said sorry and I think we have it straightened out. Coverage was to begin july. Ok where's my bill? It's now Jan. And I still have no bill I've called and called and give up. They assured me I was covered. Who ever heard of having to beg for a bill? What now?

[IADEMO2004]

5. In SW iowa we have a choice of 6 Coventry plans with tax credits.

Much higher costs then CoOportunity. Wife's oncologists office said they have the most trouble getting approvals with Coventry. Some of her drugs Coventry said they won't cover. Anyone have a good news story about Coventry? We could use a bit of good news here for a change.

[IADEMO2004]

6. Email from Cooportunity today They are to be liquidated end of Feb.

The Iowa Insurance Commissioner has determined that efforts to rehabilitate CoOportunity Health have been unsuccessful, and he plans to ask the court to place the company into liquidation. This means the company is going out-of-business, and your health insurance coverage will be affected.
Tax credits and other subsidies for insurance premiums will end on CoOportunity Health policies when the company is put into liquidation.
Open Enrollment Continues Through Sunday, February 15 on HealthCare.gov
Open enrollment on the HealthCare.gov Marketplace continues through Sunday, February 15. The Iowa Insurance Division and Nebraska Department of Insurance strongly encourage you to enroll in another health plan by Sunday, February 15 so you may continue to receive any premium subsidies you are eligible for.
It is also important to remember your annual deductible and out-of-pocket maximum in 2015 may not carry over to a new carrier. The sooner you move your coverage to another insurer, the less out-of-pocket costs you will incur under your CoOportunity Health coverage



My question Was there an effort to rehabilitate?