Opinion ID: 4468429
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: 2012 Bulletin

Text: HHS described its key findings about operating the risk adjustment program in a 2012 bulletin—an informational guidance document. U.S. Dep’t of Health & Human Servs., Bulletin on the Risk Adjustment Program: Proposed Operations by the Department of Health and Human Services, 3-5 (May 1, 2012). It emphasized how permissible plan differences affect plan premiums. Id. HHS said it would need to control these different factors to ensure “payment transfers compensate for liability differences due to health status” not for other permissible differences. Id. at 5. HHS also noted its payment methodology “need[ed] to be balanced” and acknowledged this budget-neutral design “has significant implications for the equation that is used for calculating payments.” Id.