Tricia Beckmann Comments on Individual Market Insurance Pause With Modern Healthcare

In “Oscar Health Pauses Exchange Sign-ups in Florida, Its Largest Market,” Modern Healthcare turned to Faegre Drinker Consulting Director Tricia Beckmann for commentary on the company’s announcement that it halted individual market insurance sales in Florida weeks before the end of this year’s open enrollment period.

Beckmann explained that federal regulators typically pause insurers’ enrollment during sign-up periods because of data errors, such as incorrect information about cost-sharing requirements, provider networks or benefits. “It’s just like a corrective action plan,” she said.

Beckmann also noted that a corrective action plan is usually the penultimate step before regulators push an insurer to exit a market. She added that the federal government hasn’t ordered a health insurance exchange carrier having financial problems to stop enrolling new policyholders since the early years of the marketplaces when many cooperative health insurance companies experienced severe financial difficulties that led most to eventually shutter.

The full article is available for Modern Healthcare subscribers.