The US Supreme Court ruled Monday in Maine Community Health Options v. United States that health insurance companies that suffered losses related to Affordable Care Act health benefit exchange policies may receive compensation.

Insurance companies recently sued the government to receive reimbursement owed for ACA related losses. In an 8-1 decision, the court held that the government was required to reimburse insurers for their ACA losses, outlined by the formula in the ACA. The court noted that the government was required to reimburse insurers even if Congress had not specifically allocated the appropriate funds to do so.

This problem originated when the ACA was established and Congress created “risk corridors” to mitigate risks insurers incurred when offering insurance for ACA exchanges. The challenge for insurers was to predict how much health care would cost for new customers—a difficult task. As a result, the ACA would require insurers that exceeded their costs to pay the government in order to receive benefits and insurers who exceeded their premiums would receive payments form the government in order to compensate for losses. In 2014 Congress restricted available funds for reimbursement. This resulted in the government owing $2.87 billion in the first year to unprofitable plans, and profitable plans owing the government $362 million.

“These holdings reflect a principle as old as the Nation itself,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote. “The Government should honor its obligations.”