Payers offering health plans through federal ACA marketplaces will collect 1.6 percent of the $5.9 billion the government owes them under the ACA's risk corridor program, according to The Washington Post.
Hundreds of health insurers expected to receive payments as an incentive to cover customers with higher medical expenses last year. The three-year risk corridor program, set to run from 2014 through 2016, is designed to temporarily level the financial playing field for payers by limiting both unexpectedly high gains and losses associated with participating in a new insurance market.
Only $96 million will be divvied among payers for the 2015 plan year. The risk corridor program also fell short by more than $2.5 billion in its first year, with participating payers only receiving 12.6 percent of what they were owed.