> Sincere and probably very naive question: won't this put a squeeze on insurance companies?
To the extent that many state Medicaid plans rely to some degree on private insurance providers as the direct insurers, and those private insurers receive monthly capitation payments from the state, possibly, though for Medicaid specifically the direct impact would be to the states, who are the direct recipients of the federal dollars as reimbursement for the federal share of the joint state-federal program. But Medicaid is typically a very large portion of state spending, and the federal share of Medicaid costs varies by state and subprogram but is at least 50% -- so if reimbursement stops it produces a cash flow problem very quickly.
Well yes and no. Many state Medicaid agencies outsource at least some of their plans to commercial insurers. Sometimes there is a degree of risk sharing between the entities.
It will put the squeeze on the doctors and medical facilities. There are reports already that doctors can't access the payment portal for the work that they're doing.
