The final rule of U.S. Health and Human Services on affordable insurance exchanges is expected out this month, with reports that it can be as soon as this week or by the end of the month.
The rule is expected to institutionalize how exchanges should implement outreach and education programs and comply with oversight and program integrity requirements. States have great flexibility in the design of Exchanges, and in order to ensure a process that is simplified, streamlined, and standardized across the country, the NPRM establishes standards for consumer protections for all exchanges, according to HHS.
It cannot be soon enough for regulators here who have said there is a lot of work ahead of them, and that they want clarity from HHS as soon as they can get it, for the sake of the states.
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"Soon" was a watchword here at here at the Spring National Meeting in New Orleans with respect to hearing from HHS' Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on a number of matters of guidance or rules.
"I don't think we are prepared for tsunami that is headed our way," said Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon, the NAIC vice president and the commissioner reading the NAIC Plenary meeting in New Orleans Tuesday.
Donelon was referring to a timeline given by America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) in a private briefing to commissioners Friday night here. Exchanges are expected by HHS to be up and running by Jan. 1, 2014.
A spokesman for the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO), which is charged with helping implement many provisions of the Affordable Care Act, didn't comment although staff here at the NAIC meeting in New Orleans told the NAIC that the report was coming out as soon.
Health Insurance and Managed Care Committee Chair Sandy Praeger told the NAIC full body the rule will be out by the end of the month, although commissioners were saying earlier it would be this week.
Praeger said here to National Underwriter Monday that states are waiting for the final rule so they can move forward definitively on preparing exchanges, especially on the IT elements, and do it in time for implementation. She suggested urgency in getting the exchanges done, lest the federal partnerships come in and take the place of the state exchanges.
The rule would follow the July 11, 2011, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) outlining a framework that will enable States to build Affordable Insurance Exchanges, State-based competitive marketplaces where individuals and small businesses will be able to purchase affordable private health insurance and have the same insurance choices as Members of Congress.
In other health news, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John D. Doak's proposed resolution on religious freedom in healthcare, a protest against the HHS final rule and accommodation on contraception coverage requirements, failed before the Plenary today when it did not capture a sponsor. Doak quoted Ronald Reagan to make his case, and noted that all states have employers of millions of Americans who are "wanting to protect our religious liberties in healthcare."
Doak told attendees at the Plenary that he was asked beforehand to withdraw the resolution, but felt he needed to go forward with it.
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