Oregon will become the eighth state to shut down a taxpayer-funded health insurance startup, the latest Obamacare co-op insurer to fold from financial troubles.
Health Republic Insurance, one of the state’s two co-ops, said Friday it will not offer plans in 2016. Also on Friday, Colorado’s co-op said that it would stop offering plans next year.
Oregon is the eighth state to close up a co-op out of the 23 that created one and the fourth in a week; one-third have announced they are closing.
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The co-op said Friday it priced its plans expecting to receive money from the federal government under its risk corridor program. That program was created under Obamacare to pay marketplace insurers for providing coverage for more older, sicker Americans.
Insurers requested more than $2 billion in payments but the government provided only $362 million.
The shortfall for Oregon placed the co-op in a “difficult financial position,” it said.
The effect of that shortfall is being felt now as several other co-ops have announced their closure for the same reason.
The co-op program was created to offer more competition for Obamacare enrollees.
Oregon’s co-op served nearly 15,000 members, and will still give coverage through the end of the year.
