Four States That Snubbed Health Law Gaining Jobs From It
Four states that have snubbed the federal health law by聽defaulting to the federal government to聽build new online insurance marketplaces and not聽agreeing to expand Medicaid are getting new jobs at聽call centers that will help consumers understand their new coverage options this fall.
Up to 9,000 jobs are expected to be created at call centers to support the new federally run marketplaces. A Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman said some of them will be added to existing Medicare call centers in Phoenix, Chester, Va., Lawrence, Kan.,聽聽and Tampa, Fla.– all states with Republican leaders who oppose聽the聽 law.
A fifth center in Coralville, Iowa and a sixth in Corbin, Ky., will also be expanded, she said. Plans are still being聽finalized for other locations, she said.
Of those states, only Kentucky is setting up its own online insurance marketplace that will help people shop for individual or small employer coverage. Iowa,聽will run its exchange in partnership with the federal government.聽 The other states are relying entirely on the federal government.
Of the six states getting call centers, only Kentucky聽has committed to expanding Medicaid in 2014, even though governors in Florida and Arizona聽say they support it. So far,聽22 states聽have agreed to聽expand Medicaid.
The聽jobs are through , which was awarded a $530 million 聽聽by the federal government to set up call centers to answer inquiries related to the insurance marketplaces in 34 states where they will be run in whole or part by the federal government. The government estimates that next October, when the marketplaces go live, the call centers will be open seven days of the week, 24 hours a day, handling 6.1 million phone calls and 23,000 e-mails. The contract could be renewed for up to nine more years, making it potentially worth more than $5 billion.
States running their own marketplaces will have their own call centers.
The are expected to expand health coverage to about 27 million people by 2016. Under the federal contract awarded to Fairfax, Va.-based Vangent, the company will also field inquiries about Medicare, Medicare Advantage and 鈥渙ther relevant programs,鈥 the award announcement stated.
