Tight deadlines
The schedule of deadlines leading to operation of the state health benefit exchange by next January is formidable. The management structure within the state Health Department was established only last October, and some top positions in the HBE’s organizational chart remain unfilled. There’s an executive director, a project director, and six separate offices with huge immediate responsibilities. Teams of consultants have been busy analyzing likely coverage and premium costs, enrollment projections, and implications for the establishment of a basic statewide health plan.
The 2013 deadlines are so tight they may well prove unattainable. Potential healthcare insurance providers have been told to submit letters indicating their interest in participating by Feb. 11, and proposals by April 5. Providers are expected to submit their network of participants on April 12. Dates and proposed forms are due at the Department of Financial Services by April 15. Contracts are supposed to be signed by July 21. Training of people who will guide consumers through their choices will take place in August and September. The plans, including various consumer decisions and levels of payment, will appear on an HBE website in September. Open enrollment begins Oct. 1.
The five regional advisory committees (the local one includes the Hudson Valley, the Capital Region and the North Country) monitoring the evolution of the HBE met in mid-January. On Jan. 17 the federal government approved a grant of $186 million to fund the remainder of HBE operations in their first year in New York State.
So there’s plenty for Kevin Cahill to be involved in as regards health insurance. His political mentor, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, expressed his confidence. “For New Yorkers, issues related to health and property insurance have been particularly relevant following major federal healthcare changes and the devastation wrought by a series of violent storms,” Silver was quoted in a press release as saying, “and I know Kevin will approach this new role with the same energy, enthusiasm and dedication that he shows his constituents.”
Close to the fire, but not too close.
