State Health Exchanges
This week the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a final blueprint to states on how the procedures and criteria for securing federal approval for a state-run insurance exchange or exchanges operated through a state-federal partnership. The blueprint details the application process (including states that just want to do a partnership) and the level of information the states should provide to demonstrate how their exchange will offer a wide range of competitively priced private health insurance options. Field staff may want to review the blueprint to get a better understanding of the type and level of information a state needs to provide to support its request.
States planning to operate exchanges are required to notify HHS of their intent to establish an exchange, be it state-run or a state-federal partnership, by November 16, 2012. States that decline to establish an exchange or fail to receive federal certification will default to a federally facilitated exchange in 2014.
The need for cooperation and collaboration in states where the federal government operates the exchange, especially in the areas of accrediting qualified health plans and consumer education and outreach, was a major theme in regional meetings HHS held with stakeholders this week in Washington, DC and Atlanta. HHS hosts additional stakeholder meetings next week in Chicago and Denver.
See the attached Politico Pro article for further details. The article also discusses action taken during a recent National Association of Insurance Commissioners meeting to address various issues in states that are not doing their own exchange.
Politico Pro_HHS to states Help us implement ACA_8.14.12.docx
ACS CAN believes the establishment of exchanges will make health care more easily available by letting people shop for insurance and compare health plans by quality and price.
Report: Medicaid Expansion Would Help Childless Adults
Single adults without children would benefit significantly from the Medicaid expansion in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), according to a new report by the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The health care law expands Medicaid eligibility to 138 percent of the federal poverty level although, as a result of the Supreme Court's ACA ruling, state participation is optional. The report states that roughly 82 percent of people newly eligible for Medicaid do not have a dependent child, and if every state participated, about 15 million would get access to Medicaid. Majorities of the newly eligible population are white (54 percent) and male (53 percent), and roughly half of the newly eligible population is between the ages of 19 and 34.
The Medicaid program is an important means of providing critical access to proven preventive services and lifesaving treatments. ACS CAN supports Medicaid expansion and is engaged in an ongoing effort to make the case for it to governors, state legislators, Medicaid administrators, and other state officials.
As always, thank you for all you do every day to support laws and policies that help cancer patients and their families.
Chris Hansen | President
ACS Cancer Action Network | American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Inc.