Science

Health Insurance Panel Rejects Federal Law, Recommends Limited Exchange

December 23rd, 2011

A state panel said Friday Georgia should consider setting up a limited health exchange for small businesses under the Affordable Care Act, while also criticizing the federal law and rejecting many of its core provisions. The panel’s findings are expected to provide a blueprint for state lawmakers during the upcoming legislative session.

Gov. Nathan Deal set up the 25-member panel to explore implementing a key provision of the Affordable Care Act – whether the state should create its own health exchange or rely on one created by the federal government.

Under the new law, every American will be required to own health insurance by 2014. To make sure that happens, the federal government is setting up a website to pool together the uninsured and connect them to the most affordable policies. This website, known as a health exchange, is where individuals will go to buy policies and use new tax credits.

Tea Party activist Julianne Thompson is a member of the governor’s panel and says the group’s findings provide a road map for lawmakers who are seeking free market solutions.

“I believe we came up with a viable alternative that would be able to be used in place of a government-run healthcare exchange in Georgia and the solution could make Georgia a model,” said Thomspon.

But Thompson warned the recommendations could be moot by next year. The Supreme Court is expected to decide the constitutionality of the law in June. She says any action prior to the court decision would be essentially conceding defeat.

But panel member Cindy Zeldin of the nonprofit Georgians For A Healthy Future says as long as the law is in effect Georgia should be preparing for the 2014 deadline. She says the panel’s recommendations ignore work already done to develop an exchange for the nearly two million Georgians who are currently uninsured.

“It was our responsibility to craft a recommendation for an individual exchange. To have the recommendation be so weak is disappointing,” says Zeldin.

Zeldin says that if Georgia doesn’t move ahead with a state-based exchange, Georgians will be left dealing with a one-size-fits-all federal system.

University of Georgia professor and panel member David Bradford felt the report’s omission of the individual exchange reflected not only the ideological views of the appointees but also of statewide Republicans.

“If anything I would say the committee may have been too representative,” says Bradford. “It would have been nicer to have had a group of people who might have been more pragmatically-oriented toward saying, well, the ACA [Affordable Care Act] is there for now, it’s a reality and we need to devise the best set of exchanges that we can for Georgia.”

Bradford says even though a plan is now in place for a limited small business exchange, he thinks legislators will steer clear of the issue until the Supreme Court decides the case.

In the event the Affordable Care Act is upheld, Bradford says even the hard-liners will have to re-examine the prospect of a Georgia individual exchange.