States Eagerly Awaiting Final Rule on Exchanges from NAIC Expected "Soon"

A spokesman for the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO), which is charged with helping implement many provisions of the Affordable Care Act, didn’t comment although staff here at the NAIC meeting in New Orleans told the NAIC that the report was coming out as soon.

Health Insurance and Managed Care Committee Chair Sandy Praeger told the Plenary the rule will be out by the end of the month, although commissioners were saying earlier the rule would come out this week.

Praeger said here to National Underwriter Monday that states are waiting for the final rule so they can move forward definitively on preparing exchanges, especially the information technology elements, and do it in time for implementation. She suggested urgency in getting the exchanges done, lest the federal partnerships come in and take the place of the state exchanges. 

The rule would build on a July 11, 2011, notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) outlining a framework that states could use to build Affordable Insurance Exchanges — state-based markets that individuals and small businesses could to buy private health insurance.

In other health news, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John D. Doak’s proposed resolution on religious freedom in health care, a protest against the HHS final rule and accommodation on contraception coverage requirements, failed before the Plenary today when it did not attract a sponsor. Doak quoted Ronald Reagan to make his case, and he said that all states have employers who are “wanting to protect our religious liberties in health care.”

Doak told attendees at the Plenary that he was asked beforehand to withdraw the resolution, but felt he needed to go forward with it.