Dive Brief:
- Although the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange faced major scrutiny by state lawmakers in its tumultuous infancy, it seems to be getting a pass on its financial workings now that it is stable, according to MarylandReporter.com.
- Gov. Larry Hogan is seeking a budget of $122 million to operate the exchange for fiscal year 2017, but the costs won't top out there.
- That budget would only cover administration to run the exchange, not major additions such as medical claims and administration costs borne by other state entities, the news site reports.
Dive Insight:
Hearings held last month failed to see any critical questions asked by Maryland state legislators regarding budgeting for exchange operations, MarylandReporter.com says, suggesting that, "Since exchange operations are paid with federal Medicaid funding and an excise tax levied on health insurance, maybe the best posture is to avoid uncomfortable challenges because the exchange 'pays for itself.'”
Based on issues in some other states, the publication suggests the hearing should have included these two questions at the least:
- "Is the exchange in jeopardy of enrolling too many ineligible beneficiaries?"
- "Will the exchange share its experience from its compliance with the federal program for self-testing its own enrollments? If the exchange is not participating in this program, why not?"
The publication poses further questions, such as why the exchange's Board of Trustees doesn’t evaluate or approve its budget, and what the true impacts have been of repurposing the state of Connecticut's website.