The Washington Post Taps Joel Ario for Two Articles on Healthcare Ruling
“After Health-Care Ruling Come Doubts That Some States Can Meet Key Deadlines” and “The Affordable Care Act Stands. Now States Start Scrambling”
The Washington Post
June 30, 2012 – The Washington Post turned to Manatt’s Joel Ario, a managing director with Manatt Health Solutions, for two articles focusing on how states will prepare for health reform since it was ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court.
In “After Health-Care Ruling Come Doubts That Some States Can Meet Key Deadlines,” the newspaper reports that to proceed with the federal health law, states must pass legislation authorizing exchanges, upgrade computer systems, create governing organizations and define what “essential benefits” insurers must include in policies. However, some states and the federal government are facing technical and political issues that could delay key deadlines, including the January 1, 2014, deadline to open online marketplaces where individuals and small businesses can shop for coverage.
“States that are ready are going to want to go forward in 2014 because people will expect the tax credits,” and the new rules that prevent insurers from rejecting people with medical conditions,” said Ario, who is a former director of the Office of Health Insurance Exchanges.
In “The Affordable Care Act Stands. Now States Start Scrambling,” which published on June 29, 2012, the paper reports that states need to build new technologies that can sort out who is eligible for what program. And, they must be presented in real-time to customers, as if they were shopping on Amazon.com. States have six months to show the Obama administration that they have made enough progress to launch their online exchange markets by the 2014 deadline, otherwise the federal government will take over the task.
“I think you have about 20 states right now that have a realistic chance of meeting these deadlines,” said Ario.
The federal government hopes all 50 states will run their own health insurance exchanges, which would create more buy-in for the states and also relieve the federal government of setting up these markets.
“At the end of the day, it’s going to be better to have state-based exchanges,” Ario said, “if only because then the state has an ownership stake in making them work.”
Read “After Health-Care Ruling Come Doubts That Some States Can Meet Key Deadlines” here .
Read “The Affordable Care Act Stands. Now States Start Scrambling” here .