New York’s Largest Hospital System, Northwell Health, Is Closing Its Insurance Business

Northwell Health, New York’s largest hospital system, has announced that it is closing its health insurance division, CareConnect. The division, which insures 126,000 New Yorkers, cited financial loss as a result of governmental inaction and lack of additional funding as the main culprits for its lack of financial sustainability.

More specifically, CareConnect officials made mention of a $112 million loss in 2016 due to “risk adjustment,” an element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that requires companies with a healthier consumer base (such as CareConnect) to transfer money to insurers whose consumers are statistically sicker . . .