Maryland may establish stricter rules aimed at driving down health-care costs, “at the point we have the market behind us,” Pearce said. The state’s marketplace has already drawn interest from 10 companies, including UnitedHealth and Aetna Inc., and will be open to any plan that meets the federal minimum rules, with a few technical modifications, until at least 2016, she said.
Connecticut will require all health plans to commit to sell plans in its exchange for at least two years, and they face a two-year “lockout” period if they exit the exchange, said Counihan, the CEO of the state’s exchange. Plans will also have to include at least 90 percent of the state’s federally funded health clinics in their networks, a rule aimed at protecting low-income people, he said in an interview.
Massachusetts’s Health Connector, the exchange that has operated in that state since 2006, has added carriers even as it imposed rules that include requiring insurers to offer standard benefit packages, said Glen Shor, the executive director.
“We work very closely with all of our insurers to structure rules that empower consumers but make it as easy as possible for insurers to work with us,” he said in a telephone interview. “It is a delicate balance to strike.”
Be the first to comment on this post using the section below.