CCIIO posts exchange progress update, funding guidance

The Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) has published several Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) health insurance exchange (HIX) construction documents this week.

CCIIO — pronounced “Sih-Sigh-O” — is the arm of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) responsible for overseeing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) share of efforts to implement the PPACA provisions that affect Medicare, Medicaid and private health insurance.

One of CCIIO’s jobs is to help set up the exchanges, or Web-based health insurance supermarkets that are supposed to start selling coverage to individuals and small groups by Oct. 1.

In a batch of guidance, CCIIO has assured states and others that states that are getting help from HHS with setting up and running their exchanges can use Section 1311(a) funding to promote their exchanges by, for example, printing brochures, mailing brochures, and buying print ads, radio ads and television ads.