LIHU‘E — The state of Hawai‘i continues to move steadily toward its goal of aligning with the federal Affordable Care Act of 2010 to provide cheaper and simpler health insurance choices to residents, after beating by two weeks the deadline
LIHU‘E — The state of Hawai‘i continues to move steadily toward its goal of aligning with the federal Affordable Care Act of 2010 to provide cheaper and simpler health insurance choices to residents, after beating by two weeks the deadline to submit to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services a blueprint application for a state-based health insurance exchange.
“We are working proactively as a team to ensure that all Hawai‘i residents will have access to high-quality health care and insurance coverage in a seamless, efficient and fair system,” Gov. Neil Abercrombie says in a recent press release from the Hawai‘i Health Connector.
Hawai‘i Health Connector is Hawai‘i’s online health insurance exchange, established as a nonprofit organization in 2011 by the state Legislature through Act 205.
In June, Hawai‘i became the first state in the nation to declare its intent to have a state-based health insurance exchange consistent with the federal Affordable Care Act.
The deadline originally set by President Barack Obama’s administration for the states to send their applications for a health insurance exchange program was Nov. 16, but that deadline was extended by a month. However, HHC worked ahead of schedule and sent its application two weeks before the original deadline, according to the HHC release.
“This marks another significant milestone in the establishment of the health insurance exchange in Hawai‘i,” HHC Executive Director Coral Andrews says in the Nov. 14 release. “Across the nation, states are racing to meet this deadline. We are all working under very strict timelines. For Hawai‘i to have successfully completed this Hawai‘i Health Connector blueprint ahead of schedule reflects a high degree of collaboration at all levels.”
As part of the regulations implementing the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, DHHS is required to complete its approval or conditional approval of state-based exchanges by Jan. 1, according to HHC.
But how will these changes translate to Hawai‘i’s workforce and businesses? The lingering question is of particular interest in Hawai‘i, because the state Prepaid Health Care Act of 1974 already ensures that part-time and full-time workers have health-insurance benefits provided by their employers.
In August, Andrews and a community outreach team came to Kaua‘i to launch a statewide effort to explain the changes associated with the Affordable Care Act, which is scheduled to go into full effect Jan. 1, 2014.
Affordable insurance
The Affordable Care Act includes a provision where states need to set up insurance exchanges, Andrews told The Garden Island in August.
The states, Andrews said, have different options. One is a state-certified exchange, which means the state would have a little bit more of a say in its program, tailoring it to its specific requirements, she said.
Because there is prepaid employment mandate here, it was important for Hawai‘i to be able to design a model that would allow it to incorporate the existing health coverage, Andrews said.
“We are already kind of a very progressive as a state to pass something like that in 1974,” Andrews said of Hawai‘i’s Prepaid Health Care Act.
States that don’t decide by the federal deadline about whether to have a state-based insurance exchange will have to use the federally facilitated exchange, she said.
This provision of the Affordable Care Act is an effort to make sure that all markets enable individuals and small businesses to have a place to shop for affordable coverage — and have access to that coverage — according to Andrews.
“Think about people or entities that maybe don’t have the leverage or the ability to sort of influence the market, so they can buy a rate that’s more affordable,” she said. “If you’re a really large company and you have a 1,000 employees, then you are going to be able to have the volume to drive the unit cost down. As a smaller organization, you sort of lack the flexibility to negotiate what that price is going to look like.”
That’s where HHC plans to come in, offering more choices at more affordable prices to small businesses.
“So we are going to create a marketplace where (small businesses) can go to, that … gives them more leverage to negotiate, which means we can try to bring the prices down,” Andrews said.
Implementation
On Oct. 1, 2013, small businesses will be able to go to HHC’s website and start browsing health insurance plans, Andrews said.
“They won’t be able to make the purchase,” she said. “We just set it up so they can see what’s on the marketplace. Jan. 1, 2014, we turn on every function so they can start buying insurance coverage.”
The federal government says the states have to offer plans with at least three different levels, so there will be cheaper plans with less coverage and vice versa, according to Andrews.
“There will be choice in the number of plans, and there will be choice in price of the plans, but the benefits in the plans must conform to what the federal government says they must conform to,” she said.
The whole idea behind these marketplaces is to expand the market, to bring more choices to the consumers, Andrews said.
“We are also engaging with the insurance companies to encourage them to want to sell on the insurance exchange,” she said.
What the marketplace is intending to do, Andrews said, is to is reduce the complexity of the process, make the information more accessible and in one place, and allow shoppers to use the technology in a more efficient process. And “at the end of the day,” it’s also supposed to make it more affordable.
“If we do our job correctly, our goal is to be able to get those prices within a range that makes it affordable,” she said.
Visit the website www.hawaiihealthconnector.com for more information.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@ thegardenisland.com.
