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Columbus
Dispatch...
States
run
risk of losing control
From
Reuters
The
National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which represents
insurance
regulators in all 50 states, says state governments such as Ohio’s that
opt for
federal health-care exchanges risk losing control of lucrative private
health-insurance markets within their borders.
“If the
states do not get ready for this, then they lose the ability to
regulate. It’s
the whole marketplace, “ Brian Webb, NAIC’s health-policy and
legislation
manager, told a forum hosted yesterday by the nonpartisan Alliance for
Health
Reform.
“They may
get their wish and not be able to do anything in their marketplaces, “
he said.
“There’s not an insurance commissioner in the country who wants to say,
‘No,
we’re not going to regulate that.’ “
However,
Ohio Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor -- who heads the state Insurance Department
-- says
Ohio will let the federal government set up the state’s exchange
because it
would be slightly cheaper.
The Obama
administration has set a Nov. 16 deadline for states to say whether
they intend
to set up their own exchange, create one in partnership with the
federal
government or let federal officials establish one for their residents.
The
health-care law, known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act, calls
on states to create regulated exchanges where an estimated 16 million
uninsured
Americans are expected to qualify for private health coverage at rates
subsidized according to income via federal tax credits.
Tax credits
would be available for a family of four earning up to $88,000 a year.
Initial
enrollment is due to begin nationwide in October 2013, three months
before the
law’s provisions come into full force on Jan. 1, 2014.
Even if the
administration of Gov. John Kasich were to change its mind, it already
might be
too late.
Tim Jost, a
health-law expert at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va.,
warned
the same audience that inactive states might already have “missed the
boat” for
establishing their own exchanges on schedule...
Read the
rest of the story at The Columbus Dispatch
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