First ObamaCare co-op to fail could cost taxpayers over $140 million

The first Obamacare-created insurer to go under could cost federal taxpayers up to $140 million, according to a new court filing.

CoOportunity Health, a nonprofit insurer created with $147 million in federal taxpayer loans as a result of the Affordable Care Act, was taken over by the state of Iowa in 2014 and declared insolvent in March of this year. Now the company’s ability to repay its loans may be looking grim, The Des Moines Register reports.

Daniel Watkins, a lawyer designated as the special deputy liquidator charged with helping dissolve CoOportunity Health, which formerly served Iowa’s and Nebraska’s Obamacare exchanges, filed a status report Friday in Iowa’s Polk County District Court, raising more questions about CoOportunity’s financial status.

While CoOportunity retains just $109 million in assets, it has over $282 million in liabilities, according to Watkins. Some of that money will be offset by a trio of risk mitigation policies in place at Obamacare exchanges — the reinsurance, risk adjustment and risk corridor mechanisms. CoOportunity is still negotiating the process with the federal Obamacare agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but the pools are unlikely to meet the total funding the company requires.

More