The closure of insurance co-op Health Republic of New York has hospitals and physicians concerned about the millions of dollars they're owed, according to Syracuse.com.
Federal and state regulators ordered Health Republic, one of the original 23 nonprofit co-ops formed under the ACA, to shut down earlier this year. On Nov. 10, the New York Department of Financial Services started investigating the co-op's "inaccurate" financial representations.
The Healthcare Association of New York State — a hospital trade group — found the co-op owes the state's hospitals a total of over $160 million. The Medical Society of the State of New York is surveying physicians to uncover how much they're owed, which they estimate could be in the "tens of millions of dollars."
"HANYS continues to raise very serious concerns about the consequences of such a tremendous financial loss when hospitals are already financially fragile," said Melissa Mansfield, a HANYS spokeswoman.
Numerous New York senators are also worried about the shutdown and its effects. Senators Kemp Hannon (R) and James Seward (R) wrote a letter to the state Department of Financial Services, which states they "believe much more information is needed regarding how consumers and providers will be protected from unpaid claims."