Feds Propose New Regulations on Exchanges, Medicaid Expansion

Orlando Business Journal by Abraham Aboraya –

January 14, 2013The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services on Jan. 14 proposed new rules to implement health reform.

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services on Jan. 14 proposed new rules to implement health reform.

The rules deal with two key areas: public health insurance exchanges at the state level and Medicaid expansions.

The rules look at verifying eligibility for Medicaid, the state and federal partnership for health insurance for the poor, and also proposes rules to verify whether a potential Medicaid enrollee has access to health insurance with their employer. Click here for a press release on the regulations.

A public exchange, a key provision of 2010’s health reform law, is designed to be an online marketplace where individuals and small businesses can shop for health insurance, like Expedia is for hotels. Click here for a primer on exchanges.

Another key facet of health reform was to reduce the uninsured population by expanding Medicaid to 133 percent of the poverty level, which would add about 864,000 people to Medicaid in Florida.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott and legislative leaders still are deciding what to do about implementing the Affordable Care Act in Florida.

Source: John & Rusty Report via Choice Admin