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October 04, 2012 at 08:58 AM
The District of Columbia may use the same exchange, or Web-based health insurance supermarket, for both the individual market and the small group market.
Members of the board of the District of Columbia Health Benefit Exchange Authority voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a market consolidation proposal, according to Scott Golden, a representative for a coalition that opposes the consolidation proposal.
The proposal appears to require D.C. small businesses to buy coverage through the exchange, rather than encouraging them to do so, according to the Washington Examiner.
The exchange board has said that it believes it can implement the proposal without getting the approval of the Washington, D.C., city council. Members of the anti-consolidation coalition are objecting to that interpretation.
Members of the anti-consolidation coalition believe that putting the D.C. individual and small group markets on one exchange will shut down the private market for individual and small group coverage in the district, Golden said.
“In its place, health care consumers would be forced to buy coverage from a limited selection of health plans on the government-run exchange,” Golden said.
