From Senator Jack Johnson - Senate Committees worked at
“full steam” this week as state senators examined the budgets of 11
agencies and departments of state government and approved a number of
important bills. The budget hearings, which will continue through March
16, are part of the process of reviewing how taxpayer dollars are spent
to examine whether taxpayer money is being used efficiently and
effectively to meet the state’s goals. They also provide lawmakers with
an opportunity to talk with state officials about a wide variety of
important state issues.
Among agencies appearing before Senate committees this week were the
Tennessee Division of Health Care Finance and Administration, which
administers the state’s TennCare program, and the Department of Commerce
and Insurance, which regulates the state’s health insurance industry.
Both agencies talked about the changing national landscape as Congress
and President Donald Trump consider measures to revise, repeal and
replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which is also known as
Obamacare.
The federal government has steadily increased requirements on states in
regard to populations and services that must be covered by TennCare,
which serves the state’s Medicaid population. These federal regulations
block or severely limit a state’s ability to innovate and make changes
designed to control costs or promote personal responsibility.
Tennessee Commerce and Insurance Commissioner Julie McPeak told members
of the Senate’s Commerce and Labor Committee that Congress should return
as much flexibility as possible to the states to address their
respective marketplace needs as they consider revisions to the ACA. In
the meantime, she stressed the need to stabilize the state’s individual
markets by focusing on key areas that can provide immediate assistance
like rating factors, essential health benefits, special enrollment
periods and grace periods.
As President-elect of the National Association of Insurance
Commissioners, McPeak could weigh in on proposals pending in Congress as
she recently testified before the U.S. Committee on Health, Education
Labor and Pensions.
McPeak also stressed the need for Congress to remain transparent and to
engage stakeholders to minimize surprises in the regulatory system. She
said markets need clarity so that carriers do not exit markets in mass
because they do not have an idea of what to expect in terms of
regulation over the next several years.
Tennessee has seen rates steadily increase since Obamacare was
implemented. Approved rate increases ranged from seven to 19 percent in
2015, up to 36 percent in 2016 and have increased substantially for
2017. In addition, a Co-op that provided coverage from 2014 to 2015 had
to be placed in receivership due to its instability to provide health
coverage to enrollees.
Even with rate increases, Tennessee’s individual insurance market
continues to struggle, McPeak said. Presently, the state has three
insurance carriers, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Cigna, and
Humana, offering policies on our Federally Facilitated Marketplace
(FFM). However, the future of Humana is in question after the insurer
announced last week that it plans to stop selling insurance on the FFM
in 2018. The move particularly impacts the greater Knoxville area where
no other insurers are present on the exchange. McPeak said she is
continuing talks with Humana in an effort to get the company to continue
coverage.
In 73 of Tennessee’s 95 counties, particularly the more rural areas of
the State, Tennesseans only have one insurer option. This is down from
2016 when the state had two carriers offering policies in all Tennessee
counties.
The highlighting in the above is that of the editor.
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