Tuesday, September 20th, 2011 - 8:57
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - 08:35
Health officials from the states meet with the Obama administration to hash out a partnership strategy for running health insurance exchanges.
Health officials from the states -- even those with Republican leadership opposed to the health reform law -- met with Obama administration officials in Washington yesterday to discuss partnerships for establishing and running health insurance exchanges, according to Kaiser Health News and McClatchy News Service.
The administration has become increasingly concerned that too many states are feeling overwhelmed about the responsibility to establish the exchanges, and will perhaps just sit back and allow the federal government to do it. The feds, however, have their own personnel and resource limitations. Only 10 states have passed legislation that paves the way for the establishment of exchanges.
The administration is encouraging the states to tackle some parts of the exchanges, while the federal government helps with other tasks. HHS is proposing three different options for partnerships, according to KHN-McClatchy.
In the first option, states can choose to share the management of the participation of health plans, helping consumers find their way around the exchange, or both. In the second option, states would manage what KHN calls the "personal" part of the exchange -- taking charge of in-person assistance and managing those who perform customer assistance. States can also choose to farm out information technology responsibilities -- one of the most challenging components of setting up exchanges -- to the federal government so they can concentrate on other functions.
All of this shows an effort by the federal government to be flexible and avoid having to shoulder too much of the burden of establishing exchanges. Otherwise, the development of exchanges could face delays that go far beyond the 2014 deadline for them to be up and running.
