A state health insurance program for people with expensive health conditions has officially ceased operations after turning over $8.15 million in leftover funds to the state's general fund, the Arkansas Department of Insurance announced Wednesday.
Created by the state Legislature in 1995 and funded partly with a tax on health insurers, the Arkansas Comprehensive Health Insurance Pool was intended to provide coverage to people who could not obtain it in the individual insurance market because of their health conditions. About 2,400 Arkansans were covered under the program as of late 2013.
The program became obsolete in 2014, when the 2010 federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act prohibited insurers from denying coverage to people because of their health conditions.
A state law, Act 713 of 2013, directed the program's board to terminate coverage on Dec. 31, 2013, while giving medical providers up to six months after that to submit claims for services that had been provided before the coverage ended.
The law directed the board to "take reasonable steps" to end operations by Dec. 31, 2014, return any leftover money to the state and file a report on the closure with the state Legislature and insurance commissioner by March 1, 2016, "or a later date if necessary to complete the cessation of operations of the pool."
Commissioner Allen Kerr issued a certificate of the board's compliance with the 2013 law on Tuesday after the money was transferred, department spokesman Ryan James said.
In a news release Wednesday, Kerr thanked board members for their service, saying they "ceased operations of the pool in a professional manner, and in accordance with Arkansas law."
In the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2013, the insurance program received $24.5 million, including $16.6 million in premiums, $6.8 million in taxes on insurers and a federal grant of $1.2 million, according to an audit report.
The same year, the program paid out $21.6 million in claims and had $2.7 million in other operating expenses, according to the report.
Metro on 04/14/2016