The $35.6 million grant received by the University of Massachusetts Medical School to help Connecticut and other New England states design and implement health insurance exchanges will benefit state residents and businesses, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Friday.
Malloy said the funds, provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will help Connecticut develop a state-of-the-art, online gateway to health insurance options.
Under the federal health care reform law states are required to set up, no later than Jan. 1 2014, insurance exchanges where individuals or small businesses can obtain coverage from an array of insurers competing for consumers.
The idea is to allow consumers and employers to compare and shop for various health insurance plans so they can find the most affordable options.
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“Connecticut is joining our New England neighbors to put together our best thinking and technological savvy,” Malloy said. “The goal is to make sure our citizens and job-providing businesses have the most advanced tools at their fingertips when it comes to comparing and connecting to various health insurance and coverage options.”
UMass Medical in Worcester was named as the lead recipient on the grant, but it is also targeted at all the New England states. Six other grants went to Kansas, Maryland, New York, Oklahoma and Oregon.
What Connecticut’s insurance exchange will look like is still largely undetermined. But an early version of a bill outlining the framework for the exchange calls for the creation of a 13-member quasi-public agency that would include representatives from business, labor, and the health care industry.
The draft measure calls for the creation of The Connecticut Health Insurance exchange that would have 13 unpaid voting members who would organize the exchange and hire a CEO to administer its programs and activities.
Four of those board members would be appointed by the governor and must include a representative from small employers, labor, consumers and health care providers.
The commissioners of public health and insurance, along with the secretary of the office of policy and management would also get a seat on the board.
Other highlights from Connecticut’s proposed exchange include:
·        Establishing a Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Exchange that would allow employers to access coverage for their employees and allow an employer to specify a level of coverage
·        Assigning a quality rating to each health plan offered through the exchange based on the health plan’s level of coverage
·        Maintaining a web site that contains standardized comparative information on all offered health plans
·        Requiring all plans to provide at least a bronze level of coverage, which means benefits that are actuarially equivalent to 60 percent of the full value of benefits under the plan.
