This is a way of spreading the financial risk that insurers bear – in and out of the exchanges – and encouraging them to offer a variety of health plans with stable premiums. Basically a health plan that enrolls a lot of healthy, low-risk individuals will shift some money (under a government formula) to a health plan that enrolls a lot of sicker, more expensive and high-risk beneficiaries. There are elaborate formulas for measuring and evaluating the relative risks. Because the money goes from one insurer to another, it’s deficit neutral – meaning it doesn’t add to the government’s costs. The states can establish their own risk adjustment programs if they are running exchanges, or they can use the federal system.
