With a slow week on the Federal side, we'll start with a look at an interesting report from Accenture on growth in private health insurance exchanges. The report shows that an estimated six million members enrolled on a private health insurance exchange for the 2015 plan year. According to Accenture, initial growth has been driven by the mid-size employer segment of 100 to 2,500 employees, as evidenced by the expansion of the consultant-led exchanges servicing this market. The report goes on to forecast that enrollment of employees under 65 years old and dependents will grow to 12 million in 2016, to 22 million in 2017, and will remain on track to reach 40 million enrollees by 2018. Accenture predicts that two of the key factors that have limited private health insurance exchange growth in the initial years—capacity constraints from a lack of mature solution providers and adoption delays among large employers—will dissolve in the near term. Finally, the report also identifies a few "accelerators" that are emerging to further catalyze growth, including increasing administrative requirements, the employer mandate, and the Cadillac Tax.
Moving into the states, at Monday's Connect for Health Colorado meeting, the board voted unanimously to spend up to US$5.1 million through fiscal year 2016 in an effort to address technology problems with online enrollment. At the meeting, staff said the US$5.1 million price tag would be offset through US$6 million, and potentially as high as US$9 million, in reduced costs within 15 months. The reduced costs, according to staff, would be driven by the new technology repairs which will lower costs at the call center and generate more customers for the exchange. Previously, the call center had gone almost US$7 million over budget due to online enrollment issues. Also at the meeting, staff proposed various forecasts which showed that their previously estimated US$26 million annual budget will not get the exchange to self-sufficiency by the end of the year. According to the forecasts, the exchange budget for the next three years could range from US$34.5 million to US$44.1 million. The board was also told by state Insurance Commissioner Marguerite Salazar that the exchange would likely not see cost or revenue stability for two or three years.
Up north in Minnesota on Wednesday, the MNsure board voted to consider selecting an outside vendor who would offer online tools to help shoppers compare health insurance options. The exchange website currently allows people to compare plans; however, the board was concerned that the "nuances and complexities" involved in health insurance offerings are hard for consumers to understand. Board members were concerned these complexities were causing people to purchase low-premium coverage through the exchange, which often has large out-of-pocket costs. The online tools would only be available to those purchasing commercial health insurance through MNsure. Also, the exchange will not be paying the outside vendor, and will instead be partnering with companies who offer online comparison tools for free.
Moving a little further west to Nevada, at Wednesday's Silver State Health Insurance Exchange board meeting, the exchange's executive director Bruce Gilbert told the board that exchange attorneys had successfully released the state from a pair of lawsuits. The first suit deals with consumers who are alleging they never received the coverage they had purchased, and the second with insurance brokers alleging they never received commissions earned through assisting Nevadans to purchase plans.
Finally, in California on Thursday, Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee opened the board meeting by informing those present that the expected vote on a proposal to cap consumer costs for high-end prescription drugs will not be taking place until next month. Covered California board chairwoman Diana Dooley said that "These caps are part of what we are still evaluating" and that "We need to decide what the right number should be". Also on Thursday, Lee told the meeting that the state's SHOP will be rolling out a re-branding effort, which will begin on Monday. The re-branding will include a marketing campaign to attract employers, leading up to a major sign-up effort in the fall.
Dentons is the world's first polycentric global law firm. A top 20 firm on the Acritas 2015 Global Elite Brand Index, the Firm is committed to challenging the status quo in delivering consistent and uncompromising quality and value in new and inventive ways. Driven to provide clients a competitive edge, and connected to the communities where its clients want to do business, Dentons knows that understanding local cultures is crucial to successfully completing a deal, resolving a dispute or solving a business challenge. Now the world's largest law firm, Dentons' global team builds agile, tailored solutions to meet the local, national and global needs of private and public clients of any size in more than 125 locations serving 50-plus countries. www.dentons.com.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
