SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Sanford Health Plan, which serves South Dakota, North Dakota and Iowa, is suing the federal government, saying it owes nearly $9 million in payments under a program included in former President Barack Obama's health care law.
The program, which ended in 2016, established "risk corridor'' payments to health insurers to help offset any uncertainties of selling individual insurance plans on the newly created exchanges.
Congress prohibited the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from using certain accounts to make risk corridor payments, resulting in insurers nationwide to forego billions of dollars.
Government officials say they were confident that profits from high-revenue insurers would offset losses from low-revenue insurers. But the program's first year saw profits at $362 million and losses at $2.87 billion.