Dive Brief:
- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has announced Feb. 9 through Feb. 13 as the timeframe for affected insurers to report how many people they covered through individual and small-group policies during the 2014 benefit year.
- CMS will use the data to amend the risk corridors program to help insurers mitigate any unexpected losses from the 2014 benefit year. To make these adjustments, they will estimate the state-specific effect on average claims costs, the announcement states.
- Insurance companies may submit one transitional adjustment reporting form for multiple issuers in multiple states, reducing the burden previously estimated in the 2015 Payment Notice. "On average, health insurance companies and health insurance issuers operate in 6 states," according to the statement. "Therefore, we expect health insurance companies representing a total of 2,400 issuers to submit 400 transitional adjustment reporting form filings."
Dive Insight:
The CMS had initially said the filings would be due around Jan. 23, 2015 so the later date is a boon for companies seeking more time to file their reports. However, it's not the extension that some companies were hoping for, such as UnitedHealth Group Inc., which had requested that the deadline be pushed to April 30, 2015, to align with the filing deadline for the PPACA reinsurance and risk-adjustment programs.
Of course, the sooner the filing deadline, the sooner the CMS will be able to announce what program adjustments will be made as a result of the collected information—but no date has been promised.
Following the February deadline, the CMS will "calculate the adjustment amounts, with the goal of publishing these amounts as soon as possible," officials said.