HPIO releases brief of Ohio's options for exchanges

The Health Policy Institute of Ohio has released it latest publication: Update on Ohio’s options for health insurance exchanges (pdf, 8 pages).

With less than a month before the Nov. 16 deadline in which states must notify the federal Department of Health and Human Services of its plans for health insurance exchanges, the publication explores the various facets of Ohio's decision.

In the coming weeks, Ohio will decide whether it will operate its own insurance exchange, develop a hybrid approach where it will retain some control over the exchange while ceding some administration to HHS or opt for a federally run exchange.

"On the one hand, Ohio is concerned about entering into a venture where some details have not yet been disclosed and/or determined, particularly with regard to ongoing funding of state or hybrid exchange responsibilities," the paper concludes. "On the other hand, the state may lose authority over a large segment of its health insurance market, and may be subject to federal exchange operational requirements that conflict with state priorities and regulatory objectives."

The paper is a follow-up to the policy brief HPIO released in May titled " Final rules and key stakeholder considerations regarding exchange establishment and functions." In September 2011, HPIO published "Federal rules for establishing nn n health insurance exchanges."