Utah Health Exchange, among many others.
BOSTON — The National Council of Insurance Legislators immersed themselves in health insurance reform implementation details during the group’s recent summer meeting.
The event in Boston included 12 hours of sessions on the new federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and allowed lawmakers the opportunity to ask the questions of national experts on how states and the federal government will work together to implement the plan.
all about educating legislators and
there is no more timely issue on
which to instruct and inform them.
States will be challenged in the up-
coming years to meet a myriad of
responsibilities and obstacles re-
lated to reform implementation,
including creation of effective state-
based insurance exchanges, funding
of expanded Medicaid eligibility,
and balancing costs and benefits of
new health plans. NCOIL will con-
tinue to prepare legislators for this
vast undertaking at an upcoming
NCOIL Annual Meeting.”
A high point in the meeting was a key-
note luncheon address by Vermont
Gov. Jim Douglas, chair of the Na-
tional Governors Association (NGA),
entitled Healthcare Reform: View from
a Governor’s Office. Governor Douglas
discussed ongoing NGA healthcare
reform efforts and detailed innovative
approaches to delivery system reform
that his state has employed in recent
years to improve health quality and
lower overall costs.
Legislators today cleared a final hurdle of the “what’s and why’s” of the recently enacted law by looking at the impacts on other lines of insurance, including coordination and costs. Other meeting sessions included discussions on health reform implementation timelines and responsibilities, challenges and changes ahead for health insurers, stage budget impacts of expanded Medicaid rolls, and exploration of health insurance exchanges, using the Massachusetts and Utah case studies.
Legislators also honed in on the House-passed financial modernization bill (H.R. 4173), the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
NCOIL President Rep. Robert
Damron (KY), said “NCOIL is
Blue-ribbon panels of experts in-
cluded Marsha Mills, a senior
advisor with the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services
(HHS); Kansas Insurance Com-
missioner Sandy Praeger; Visiting
Scholar John Bertko of the Brook-
ings Institution; Scott Pattison of
the National Association of State
Budget Officers (NASBO); Rick
Fenton of the National Associa-
tion of State Medicaid Directors
(NASMD); Massachusetts State
Rep. Peter Koutoujian; Robert Car-
ey of the Public Consulting Group
regarding the Massachusetts con-
nector; and Cheryl Smith of the
As well as targeting health and finan-
cial reform, the NCOIL gathering
moved forward on vital model legisla-
tion to be sent to the states, including
rules governing the treatment of mar-
ket conduct annual statement data
(MCAS), credit default insurance,
aftermarket crash parts and auto
body steering, healthcare balance
billing and dental reimbursements,
and workers’ compensation for truck
drivers and couriers.
■
The NCOIL Annual Meeting will take place from November 18 through 21 in Austin, Texas.
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