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The pending demise of Health Republic, the largest of the nonprofit cooperatives created under the Affordable Care Act and the only co-op in New York, removes a significant player from the state’s insurance industry. It also left the insurers’ 215,000 members, about half of whom are individuals and half are insured through small businesses, in need of new coverage. Individual Health Republic plans will end on Dec. 31, and small-group plans end as early as Oct. 31, although some will continue into next year. (Ramey, 10/12)

The federal government is increasing its scrutiny of a cooperative in Westerville that was set up to help ensure a lower-cost option for Ohioans who shop the federally run health-insurance marketplace. The health-insurance cooperative, which does business as InHealth Mutual, is now under “enhanced oversight,” having reported a net loss of $9.1 million through the first six months of this year. (Sutherly, 10/13)

Health insurers selling individual policies on Montana’s “marketplace” will be shorted millions of dollars in federal payments this year, thanks to an Obama administration decision unveiled this month. But two of the three insurance firms say it shouldn’t hurt their financial position too much. “This hurts us and it hurts a lot of (health) co-ops, but because of the way we’ve managed our costs, we’re still in good financial shape,” said Jerry Dworak, CEO of the Montana Health Co-op. ... The Co-op, which insures 23,000 people in Montana and another 20,000 people in Idaho, had expected about $6 million this year in federal “risk-corridor” payments to help offset losses for 2014, its first year of operation. ... But 10 days ago, federal officials announced the government would cover only 12.6 percent of the requested payments. That means the co-op gets only $800,000. (Dennison, 10/12)