Assembly Committee Clears Health Insurance Exchange Bill
A2171 defines a health insurance exchange -- an online marketplace where individuals and small businesses will buy coverage starting in 2014, when federal healthcare regulations will make insurance mandatory for most Americans. The bill was moved over the objections of health insurers and business trade groups, but with strong support from consumer advocates.
Much of the debate at the crowded hearing, convened by Assemblyman Dr. Herb Conaway (D-Burlington), chair of the Health and Senior Services committee, focused on the type of exchange that would be implemented -- an active purchaser or an agnostic clearinghouse.
An active purchaser would, among other things, establish "minimum requirements for the selection, certification, and recertification of qualified plans [as well as] criteria and procedures for decertifying plans . . ."
In contrast, the clearinghouse model allows all insurers to compete for customers, as long as their plans meet federal reform standards.
Ev Liebman, AARP state director for advocacy, applauded the active purchaser provision but said it didn't go quite far enough. She urged that the bill “be strengthened to clearly allow [the exchange] to work on behalf of consumers and demand quality, responsiveness to consumer concerns, reasonable rates, efficient plan designs, robust provider networks, and comprehensive benefits.
Other advocates for the active purchaser option included New Jersey Policy Perspective, New Jersey Citizen Action, the Main Street Alliance, and NJPIRG.
On the other side, Ward Sanders, president of the New Jersey Association of Health Plans, whose members include New Jersey’s health insurance companies, favors the clearinghouse. He warns that an active purchaser "can choke competition, reduce consumer choice, and ultimately lead to a dysfunctional market.”
Christine Stearns, vice president of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, testified against the active purchaser provision, saying that it could increase bureaucracy and push costs higher.
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Column: More Locals Lack Health Insurance - Morristown, NJ Patch
The ranks of the uninsured are rising in Morris County, one of the wealthiest counties in the nation.
Close to 1 in 10 people under age 65 living in Morris in 2009 were without health insurance, according to data the U.S. Census Bureau released last week. That represents 36,171 people. It’s about 2,000, or half of a percentage point, higher than just a year earlier.
As with so many of these measures, Morris County’s rate of 8.7 percent is among the lowest in New Jersey. Still, that’s a lot of men, women and children who worry every day about getting strep, sprained ankles, or something far more serious.
The situation is much worse in some other counties: Passaic, for instance, had the second largest percentage of its population uninsured—19.7 percent, or more than 83,000 people. In Sussex, 12,647 people, or 9.6 percent of the population, did not have health insurance.
The Census estimates are important because they are the only source of data on health insurance coverage for every county in the nation.
Health insurance, or the lack of insurance, is a critical issue throughout the U.S. One reason is the cost.
In the last fiscal year, New Jersey spent $665 million subsidizing charity care at hospitals throughout the state. When people without insurance get sick enough, doctors won’t see them if they can’t pay, so they go to the hospital emergency room, where by state law they can’t be turned away.
Almost $100 million of that went to University Hospital in Newark, followed closely by hospitals in Paterson and Jersey City. Morristown Medical Center received $3.3 million, and the three campuses of St. Clare’s got $11.4 million.
Still, last year, the state paid only an average of 42 cents for every dollar spent by the hospitals on care.
Forcing people without insurance to receive care in hospital emergency rooms, particularly for common illnesses like a cold, the flu or a stomach virus, is terribly inefficient, as care is significantly more expensive in a hospital setting.