In Which Kansas's Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger Trolls Governor Brownback...
Ann Marie Marciarille
Missouri State of Mind:: Last week, the Insurance Department of the State of Kansas held a three-hour hearing to collect public input on what should constitute the state's essential health benefits benchmark plan under the ACA. No, Gov. Brownback did not attend….
What's at stake? A great deal, apparently. Under the ACA, the states may choose to participate in the creation of the models or templates for minimum essential benefits to be offered through their state exchanges, or the federal government will perform this function for them. Each state has until September 30th… [(]there are rumors of some give on that date[)]. A number of states have been busy benchmarking existing coverage in their states and developing recommendations on minimum essential benefits…. If you're interested in seeing the work being done on this in other states, you could look here…
http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/health/state-ins-mandates-and-aca-essential-benefits.aspx
States… must meet certain federal guidelines and benchmark off of certain popular basic insurance plans found in the state. For Kansas, this would likely mean… a basic health insurance plan significantly richer than its current Medicaid benefit. That may be the rub.
