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May 14, 2013 at 10:21 AM
Talk about the future of the private small-group health insurance market is heating up at the District of Columbia Council.
The council’s health committee recently held a 7-hour hearing on the district’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) exchange program manager, the District of Columbia Health Benefit Exchange Authority.
The witness list included Dr. Mohammed Akhter, the exchange authority board chairman, and member representatives from trade groups and advocacy groups, including the District of Columbia Insurance Federation, the District of Columbia Chamber of Commerce, Consumers Union and AARP.
Yvette Alexander, the health committee chairperson, said she would like to get exchange legislation considered by the council on an emergency basis later this month.
The exchange board wants to be able to require insurers to sell all non-grandfathered small-group coverage sold in the district through the district’s Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) program exchange within a year after the exchange program starts up. Exchange managers have said that, even if the transactions take place through the exchange, agents and brokers could still help small groups buy the coverage and collect commissions from the insurers that issue the coverage.
Hearing witnesses supporting the exchange-only small-group approach argued that the D.C. market is too small to support an exchange small-group market and a non-exchange small-group market.
Stacy Pace, a lawyer who testified, said she supports the small-group exchange proposals, because she thinks they’ll increase her ability to take on full-time employees and offer health benefits.
