FARGO-Sanford Health Plan is suing the federal government for almost $9 million for what it says is a reneged promise to pay to cushion the insurer against hard-to-predict losses from providing coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

The Affordable Care Act, the health reform law often called Obamacare, required qualified health plans that sold health insurance in the government's online marketplace to meet certain standings, including providing essential benefits.

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Insurers also were required to sell insurance with what is called "community rating," basing premiums on the entire pool of customers instead of on individual health risks. Benefits previously subject to copays or other out-of-pocket payments from consumers were mandated to be provided at no cost to the insured.

Because of the high degree of uncertainty of providing mandated coverage for new populations, the Affordable Care Plan called upon the government to bolster insurers with programs to help stabilize premiums.

One of those programs was a mechanism called "risk corridors," a form of insurance for the health insurers. But the Republican-controlled Congress, which tried unsuccessfully to repeal the health law, refused to fund the backup programs, including the risk corridors.

To help persuade insurers to participate, the government made guarantees to pay health plans if they incurred costs above a targeted level. Similarly, the insurers would owe the government if costs came in below the level.

"Despite these express and binding obligations, the risk corridors program-like the ACA as a whole-has been the target of subsequent congressional actions designed to impede (the government's) ability to administer the program as mandated by the ACA," Sanford said in its lawsuit, which was recently filed in the U.S. Court of Claims in Washington, D.C.

Because Congress never funded risk corridor program as promised by law, participating health insurers incurred billions of dollars of losses in 2014 and 2015. As a result, a number of insurers around the country are now filing lawsuits similar to the suit filed by the Sanford Health Plan.

Sanford sustained losses of almost $9 million from selling health insurance in North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa.

Sanford Health Plan has followed the law and provided "high-quality, affordable health insurance," said Cindy Morrison, Sanford Health's chief policy officer.

"The law and the risk corridors program imposed payment requirements on Sanford Health Plan, which it has met," she added in a statement. "It also imposed payment obligations on the government. Unfortunately, the government has not met its payment obligations, and Sanford Health Plan has brought this lawsuit in order to ensure that the government lives up to its end of the bargain."