On September the 7th, I attended a meeting of the Office of the Insurance Commissioner committee to which I was appointed. It was held in Olympia in a nondescript office building about 3 miles away from the Captiol Campus. On the Capitol Campus is a very impressive 19th Century neo gothic building that houses the public face of the Insurance Commissioner.
The meeting was hosted by the Deputy Insurance Commissioner, Mr. John Hamje, four of his staff members were also present, a total of 6 agents and representatives and two employees of the Washington Health Care Exchange Board.
There is so much to cover I will just put down a few of the highlights in bullet points and if you would like more information you can either contact me, or for more details of the Health Care Exchange I would suggest you review the following link. I am sure you will find it as informative as I have done.
Click here for Health Care Exchange details
* The title of the Affordable Care Act is a misnomer, as the cost of health care won't actually be any less expensive, or insurance any cheaper, but it will be more affordable to those with lower incomes due to the drastic expansion of Medicaid.
* Of the approximate 1,000,000 people without insurance in Washington, it is estimated that 400,000 will be eligible for Medicaid.
Click here for details
* The Federal Government will cover 100% of all the additional Medicaid costs for 3 years. After that the 100% will be reduced with some of the burden falling on the individual states.
* Plans with an effective date of January 2014 or later, will be Guaranteed Issue with no health questions. In addition all pre-existing conditions will be fully covered from day 1.
* The state will be utilizing "navigators" to assist in the enrollment of people in the exchange plans. Navigators can not be compensated based upon a person enrolling in a plan. Groups and associations can apply for a grant to be navigators and it is anticipated that the structure of SHIBA, the Statewide Health Insurance benefits Advisors a function of the OIC will be used.
* The State is developing a new web-site to determine eligibility as well as plans and benefits available through the exchanges. This web-site is anticipated to have real time access to many different government databases including Social Security and the IRS to determine what, if any subsidy of Medicaid eligibility you are entitled to.
* This web-site will not have any interface with the benefits available to those who are not eligible for government assistance. So in my opinion, what could have be a useful tool to show all options will be piecemeal at best.
So much more is going on behind the scenes and you can get a front row seat to all the meetings and discussions right from the comfort of your own home.
The vast majority of the meetings are both open to the public but also available for you to call in on a toll free telephone line and listen. The details can be found by following the mentioned before link to the Health Care Exchange
If you have thoughts or comments I would love to hear them.
Click here to email Phil
