For Immediate Release | September 14, 2010
Contact:
Jill Braunstein at (202) 452-8097
WASHINGTON, DC—The National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) has announced the formation of a blue-ribbon study panel to develop a model state statute for health insurance exchanges and to assist the states in understanding design and implementation issues under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The study panel will be co-chaired by Deborah Chollet, Senior Fellow at Mathematic Policy Research and Sara Rosenbaum, Professor of Health Law and Policy and Chair of the Department of Health Policy at the George Washington University. The two-year project is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
“We are pleased to name this independent study panel to provide vital information to those responsible for the new law’s implementation,” said NASI President Janice Gregory. “Just as Medicare brought a new dimension of protection to millions of Americans by assuring they would have access to health care as they grew older, the exchanges are a move to extend coverage to millions more Americans of all ages.”
“The ACA places significant demands on states to implement many areas of reform,” Deborah Chollet, co-chair of the study panel. “The implementation of health insurance exchanges in each state involves determining a governance structure, delineating exchange functions and responsibilities, specifying the benefits packages to be offered to consumers, securing the participation of health insurance plans, collecting premiums from participating individual and employers, making risk-adjusted payments to insures, and collaborating with the state insurance department on market oversight and enforcement – just to name a few.”
According to co-chair Sara Rosenbaum, “The extent to which the exchanges will succeed depends on how the states implement federal regulations. This project aims to ensure that state and federal leaders have the guidance they need to establish exchanges that will operate efficiently and maximize access to affordable coverage.”
The study panel brings together experts from a variety of disciplinary and philosophical perspectives including academics, insurers, brokers, employers, and consumers. A complete list of panel members is below. The Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, under the direction of Sabrina Corlette, will be collaborating with NASI on key aspects of the project.
In addition to the model statute, the project will produce policy briefs synthesizing the panel’s discussions and will brief policymakers on design issues critical to the success of the exchanges.
Study Panel on State Health Insurance Exchanges
Deborah Chollet, Co-Chair
Senior Fellow, Mathematica Policy Research
Sara Rosenbaum, Co-Chair
Harold and Jane Hirsh Professor of Health Law and Policy and Chair of the Department of Health Policy, George Washington University
Lawrence Atkins
Executive Director, U.S. Public Policy, Merck & Company
Gary Claxton
Vice President, Kaiser Family Foundation
Brian Coyne
Senior Vice President, Federal Government Relations, Amerigroup Corporation
Rick Curtis
President, Institute for Health Policy Solutions
Anne Dunkelberg
Associate Director, Center for Public Policy Priorities
Jonathan Gruber
Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alvin Headen
Associate Professor of Economics, North Carolina State University
Timothy Jost
Robert L. Willett Family Professor of Law, Washington and Lee University
Renée M. Landers
Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Health and Biomedical Law Concentration, Suffolk University Law School
Amy Lischko
Assistant Professor, Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine
Richard P. Nathan
Director Emeritus, Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government
Len Nichols
Director, Health Policy Program, George Mason University
Alice Rosenblatt
Health Actuary
Dean Rosen
Partner, Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti, Inc.
David R. Riemer
Director, Community Advocates Public Policy Institute
Murray Ross
Vice President and Director, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan & Kaiser Permanente, Institute for Health Policy
Paul Van de Water
Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Alan Weil
Executive Director, National Academy for State Health Policy
Tim Westmoreland
Visiting Professor of Law & Research Professor, Georgetown University
The National Academy of Social Insurance is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization made up of the nation’s leading experts on social insurance. Its mission is to promote understanding of how social insurance contributes to economic security and a vibrant economy.
