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Serving The Willistons, Albertson, Herricks, Mineola, Roslyn Heights, and Searingtown

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Friday, September 1, 2017

Vol. 66, No. 35

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Northwell pulls plug on CareConnect Health care company cites losses, failure of fed gov’t. to fix ACA flaws BY JA N E LL E CL AUSEN Northwell Health has announced that CareConnect, its insurance subsidiary, will shut down and drop out of the Aordable Care Act market next year because of major losses. CareConnect has 126,000 policyholders, including individuals, small businesses and other groups, with more than half of them on Long Island. The company said last Thursday that these people will still be covered as they are transferred to other providers. Northwell Health pointed to its $112 million payment to the ACA’s risk-adjustment pool, representing about 44 percent of the company’s small-group health plan revenue. The company also noted a lack of federal assistance – speciďŹ cally that it never received a $150 million reimbursement from the federal government.

“It has become increasingly clear that continuing the CareConnect health plan is ďŹ nancially unsustainable, given the failure of the federal government and Congress to correct regulatory aws that have destabilized insurance markets and their refusal to honor promises of additional funding,â€? Northwell President and CEO Michael Dowling said. The risk-adjustment program redistributes funds from plans with lower-risk enrollees to plans with higher-risk ones. It aimed to push companies to insure more people and spread ďŹ nancial risk across the markets, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, which studies healthcare issues. In the ďŹ rst ďŹ scal quarter this year, Northwell reported an operating loss of $36.2 million, with $22.7 million of that coming from CareConnect’s plan for individuals and small groups. This follows CareConnect’s net Continued on Page 74

PHOTO BY DAVID POLLARD

Highlanders The Amityville Highland Pipe Band was one several bagpipe bands in attendance at this year’s Long Island Scottish Festival and Highland Games on Saturday at Old Westbury Gardens in Old Westbury. The event highlighted aspects of Scottish culture from dress and music to food and sport. See story on page 74.

Mineola Street Fair to return after rainout on Sunday, Sept. 10, after rain caused organizers to cancel it for the ďŹ rst time ever last October. This year will mark the You can’t rain on Mineola’s event’s second time on Mineola’s parade two years in a row. The Mineola Street Fair is major thoroughfare, where it set to return to Jericho Turnpike moved in 2015.

BY N O A H MANSKAR

Organizers are conďŹ dent they can build on the momentum they’ve gathered in recent years despite the gap between fairs, said Tony Lubrano, president of the Mineola Chamber Continued on Page 75

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