Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Colorado Lawmakers Question Proposed Fee Hikes For State Exchange
Colorado lawmakers grilled managers for the state health exchange Wednesday, but did not embrace or oppose specific fee hikes. Managers at Connect for Health Colorado earlier this week recommended hiking the user fees from 1.4 percent to as high as 4.5 percent to fund about $54 million a year in expenses, a huge jump from long-promised costs of $26 million a year. At the same time, exchange managers also are pushing for a separate hike in assessments on all health insurance customers in the state — even those who buy insurance outside the state exchange. (Kerwin McCrimmon, 5/13)
The legislative committee overseeing the state health insurance exchange Wednesday questioned the competence of a volunteer board guiding the exchange. "Did this get set up properly with a part-time, volunteer board?" asked committee chair Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango. (Draper, 5/13)
Gov. David Ige's administration says Hawaii's health insurance exchange will have to make changes to comply with federal Affordable Care Act. Deputy Chief of Staff Laurel Johnston said Wednesday the administration's plan calls for using the federal government's information technology to run the Hawaii Health Connector's troubled insurance exchange. (McAvoy, 5/13)
Gwinnett County, in suburban Atlanta, had by far the highest enrollment among Georgia counties in the state’s 2015 health insurance exchange, said a report released Wednesday. The exchange enrollment of 73,839 in Gwinnett is more than 14,000 higher than in the second-place finisher, neighboring Fulton County, even though Fulton is the only Georgia county with a higher overall population than Gwinnett’s. The other three counties in the state’s top 5 were DeKalb, with 52,016 enrollees, Cobb, with 43,958, and Clayton, with 21,764, according to a report on the state’s second year of open enrollment, compiled by Georgians for a Healthy Future, a consumer advocacy group. (Miller, 5/13)
And a Sacramento couple struggles to take advantage of subsidized health care coverage through Covered California -
The insurance program was called 'Believe Me' — but Kairis Chiaji had her doubts. She and her husband Arthur were skeptical that the new health plan they purchased for 2015 would actually work out. That’s because their experience in 2014 had been a disaster, she said. The Sacramento, Calif., couple had been thrilled to learn last year about the prospect of subsidized coverage under the nation’s health law, she recalled. Each of them had been uninsured for years when they signed up for coverage through the state exchange, Covered California. (Gold, 5/14)
