Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman has released the names of the 14 member Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange board, which includes some prominent members of the state’s insurance industry, including the former CEO of Farmington-based Connecticare Mickey Herbert.
The exchange board is part of a quasi-public agency that will work to create Connecticut’s health insurance exchange by 2014, which is required under the Affordable Care Act.
The exchange will essentially be an online marketplace for individuals and small businesses to obtain coverage from an array of insurers competing for consumers. The federal government will require participating health plans to meet certain benefit standards and also provide ratings on health plan quality.
But states have a lot of freedom in choosing how they want to operate the exchange, and the newly named board will have a lot of influence over it.
Wyman chairs the board, whose first meeting will be Monday at 10 a.m. in the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.
The other members are: Ben Barnes –secretary, Office of Policy and Management
·        Roderick Bremby – commissioner, Dept. of Social Services Â
·        Jeannette DeJesús – special advisor to the Governor on Health Care Reform
·        Michael Devine – CEO, Earth Energy Alliance
·        Mary Fox – former senior vice president for Aetna Product Group.
·        Mickey Herbert – former CEO of Connecticare
·        Thomas Leonardi – commissioner, Department of Insurance (non-voting)                                   Â
·        Dr. Jewel Mullen – commissioner, Dept. of Public Health  (non-voting)                            Â
·        Dr. Grant Ritter – senior scientist, Schneider Institutes for Health Policy
·        Dr. Robert Scalettar – board certified pediatrician
·        Dr. Robert Tessier – executive director, Connecticut Coalition of Taft-Hartley Health Funds ·        Victoria Veltri – State Healthcare Advocate (non-voting)
·        Cecilia Woods – outgoing vice chair of the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women
