Hawaii Could Scale Back Exchange
By Kristen Consillio, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The state and Connector should seek flexibility from the federal government to enroll small businesses so that it doesn't waste additional taxpayer dollars to build unnecessary components of the SHOP exchange, she said. One part of the exchange handles individual sign-ups, and the other part, small-business enrollment.
"We don't really want American taxpayers or
As is, he said, the state is "setting up another level of process ... that somebody is going to have to pay for going forward. That somebody is all of us. One way or the other, whether it's fees or whether it's taxes that come out of the general fund, you have to pay for something that's not necessary."
Prior to the exchange, individuals and small businesses went directly to carriers to obtain insurance, a process that has been successful to date, he said.
Specifically, Giesting said there is no need for the Connector to spend additional money to build a component to consolidate billing for small groups because that function is currently being handled directly through insurers.
"That just seems like it may be a bit fancier than is necessary," she said. "If it was a good function and worked effectively and did support better employee choice, it might be worth building out. We just don't think there will be that many small businesses seeking insurance through the exchange."
Also stifling enrollment on the exchange is that the state is allowing individuals and small companies to remain in existing pre-ACA health plans through 2017 following a policy change by President
In response to Gold's comments last week,
The state and Connector will seek a federal waiver in 2017 to modify ACA rules to fit
"We do think there are some benefits through the exchange that are not available if we just said, 'Let's get rid of the exchange altogether,'" Giesting said, adding that one benefit is that employees can compare health plans so they can choose the option that best fits their needs. "The thing that's kind of troublesome is the Connector is the one that is the middleman doing the enrollment, collecting the money and doing all the stuff that is brand new and duplicative (with health insurers). It's all about trying to negotiate something that works best for us in
She also said small businesses may be able to apply for tax credits directly with the
The Connector received
"Hindsight is always 20/20," Giesting said. "The state was very enthusiastic about the insurance exchange. We felt that was the best solution to ensure Prepaid was protected. I don't think we were necessarily wrong about that; we just didn't have all the information. Now that we have more experience and understand how things work better, we do have an opportunity to try to make some corrective steps."
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