IndustryInsidersAnswerKeyQuestionsaboutHealthInsurance.docVIP

PAGE  PAGE 2 Industry Insiders Answer Key Questions about Health Insurance Exchanges? ? Reprinted from  HYPERLINK /Products/NewsMCW.html HEALTH PLAN WEEK, the industrys leading source of business, financial and regulatory news of health plans, PPOs and POS plans. By Steve Davis, Managing Editor ( HYPERLINK mailto:sdavis@ sdavis@), September 17, 2010 On Sept. 1, small employers (with 50 or fewer employees) in Utah were able to provide funds to employees that they can use to purchase coverage through an insurance exchange. Utah — which piloted the program last year — and Massachusetts are the only states that have an insurance exchange. But other states are scrambling to define how their exchanges will operate so that they will be able to have them up and running by the Jan. 1, 2014 deadline. During a panel discussion sponsored by AIS, four industry observers offered their perspectives on how the insurance exchanges will impact the small-group and individual markets. Here’s a look at four key questions about the exchanges: (1) Which health insurers will participate? Exchanges must certify that health insurers meet its requirements and must determine if a plan’s participation “is in the interest of” participating individuals, according to the provision. Panelists agreed that health insurers that offer managed Medicaid products might be seen as attractive exchange participants if they can serve Medicaid and subsidized populations. Moreover, some families will have children enrolled in the state Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) while the parents have coverage through the exchange, predicted Timothy Stoltzfus Jost, a health law professor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law in Virginia. Bruce Caswell, president and general manager of the health services segment at MAXIMUS, agreed and added that states will want their exchanges to offer a “seamless experience” that allows members to keep their providers even if they switch programs. “