Utah or Massachusetts? No, it's Iowa
Gazette Editorial Board
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We met recently with two groups pushing for establishment of health insurance exchanges in Iowa. One of the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act’s central requirements is for each state to establish an exchange, where individuals, businesses and organizations can select from a variety of insurance options. It’s supposed to encourage competition among insurers and give consumers more affordable choices.
Both the Iowa Health Alliance and the Iowa Health Advocates want the Iowa Legislature to authorize work on an exchange sooner than later. They argue that waiting until July for the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the ACA’s mandate that every individual must have health insurance coverage is too late.
We agree. Legislators have to authorize a plan by Jan. 1; otherwise, the federal government will do it for us. Yes, depending on the November election outcome, Congress could throw out the exchange requirement, as well as any other or all parts of the ACA regardless of how the high court rules on the mandate.
But waiting because of the uncertainties doesn’t seem wise.
Both of the coalition groups who spoke to us also talked about states with exchange plans already operating. The Iowa Exchange Alliance — a coalition of small business owners and the insurance industry — prefers the Utah plan. Iowa Health Advocates, advocating largely for consumers, leans toward the Massachusetts plan.
We reviewed each plan’s websites. Both were pretty easy to navigate. Beyond that:
l Utah — The exchange, launched in 2009, was intended to focus on small businesses. Utah officials found that most of the state’s uninsured were working for small businesses who increasingly could not afford health insurance. About 250 small employer groups have signed on since the exchange
l Massachusetts: Better geared for families and individuals seeking their own plans, and also has employer options. State statistics show 400,000 residents have bought through the 5-year-old exchange, with 98 percent of the population covered. Annual premium increases have slowed to 3 percent.
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SIS-388 International Environmental Politics: MS Fellowship in in the ...
This fellowship will support a MS student to pursue a degree in the Human Dimensions of Ecosystem Science and Management (HDESM) program in the Department of Environment and Society at Utah State University (USU) starting August 2012. This fellowship is funded by USDA National Needs Graduate Fellowship Competitive Grant No. 2011-38420-20087 from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The full proposal is available at http://www.cnr.usu.edu/wild/ htm/available-ms-fellowships . Our goal is to create a small cohort of graduate students whose research will be linked under the theme "Managing for Resilience in Forested Ecosystems of the Intermountain West." Current topics related to management, adaptation, resilience and human dimensions of forest ecosystems in a changing climate will be emphasized. Student fellows will participate in several outreach projects in cooperation with USU Extension Forestry including the planning of a Restoring the West regional conference and publication of at least one article each in the Utah Forest News. The student fellows will also benefit from coordinated mentoring by an Advisory Board of faculty members from the Wildland Resources and Environment and Society departments in the College of Natural Resources - Dr. Karen Mock, Dr. Jim Long, Dr. Mike Kuhns, and Dr. Zhao Ma; and Dr. Barbara Bentz with the USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station, and Dr. Paul Rogers with the USU-affiliated Western Aspen Alliance. The fellowship support includes a stipend of $17,000 per year for 2 years (Fall 2012 through Spring 2014), an out-of-state tuition waiver, and subsidy for student health insurance. Utah State University is an equal opportunity employer and we strongly encourage applications from groups who are underrepresented in natural resources professions. Fellowship candidates are required to be a citizen or national of the United States of America.