HHS Will Provide $51 Million To Establish Insurance Exchanges

On Thursday, HHS announced that it will provide $51 million in grants for states to set up health insurance exchanges that will allow consumers to compare and select health insurance policies online, CQ HealthBeat reports.

HHS also requested public comment on standards for successful exchanges (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 7/29).

The federal health reform law calls for the creation of such exchanges (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 7/29).

Grants for Exchanges

According to HHS, each state and the District of Columbia are eligible for up to $1 million to create an exchange.

The agency said states can create their own exchanges or partner with others to manage regional exchanges. Grant applications are due by Sept. 1 (Lipowicz, Federal Computer Week, 7/29).

Although the exchanges do not take effect until 2014, analysts have said that states must immediately begin work on the exchanges.

According to Rick Curtis, president of the Institute for Health Policy Solutions, states that elect to run their own exchanges must design and establish policy for the exchanges and determine how the new market will work alongside other state agencies and the current insurance market. Curtis added that the HHS funding is imperative because in the current economic climate, most states would not have the necessary resources to make these initial plans.

Seeking Comments

Meanwhile, HHS also is soliciting comments from states, consumer advocates, employers, insurers and others on rules and standards that exchanges should be required to meet (CQ HealthBeat, 7/29).

The agency is seeking information on:

• Criteria for determining a state’s progress on implementing an insurance exchange;
• States’ current data sharing capabilities; and
• Strategies for coordinating eligibility and enrollment data among Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.