Health insurance exchange design could affect the value of the health insurance services consumers buy, health plan quality experts say.
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), Washington, makes that point in a presentation prepared for the Exchanges Subgroup at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), Kansas City, Mo.
NCQA President Margaret O’Kane is set to make a presentation to the subgroup in Philadelphia Aug. 31, at the NAIC’s summer meeting.
The subgroup has included a copy of the NCQA presentation, which covers the relationship between exchange quality and exchange savings, along with a summer meeting session agenda.
The subgroup is helping federal agencies, the NAIC and state insurance regulators implement the health insurance exchange provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA).
The provisions call for states to help set up state-run exchanges for individuals and small groups by 2014. In states that do not set up exchanges, the federal government will provide exchange services, if the provisions take effect as written and work as drafters expect.
Exchange builders can choose from a variety of approaches to managing the exchanges, deciding which products can be sold through the exchanges, and setting exchange rules.