State Marketplace Delays Action Upon Senator’s Request

Planners studying how Arkansas can implement a state insurance exchange are waiting to send a request for quotes to vendors until the state’s overall direction on health care reform is clearer.

Sen. David Sanders, R-Little Rock, the chairman of the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace (AHIM) Legislative Oversight Committee, asked planners to delay seeking quotes from vendors in a letter dated Sept. 3. Sanders said the committee needed more time.

In a meeting of that committee Tuesday, Sherrill Wise, AHIM chair, said its board of directors has decided to wait.

AHIM is planning the state’s implementation of an exchange for small businesses and studying whether one should be developed for individuals. Arkansas individuals who buy insurance on their own currently do so through healthcare.gov, the federal exchange that experienced many difficulties in its official rollout.

The state is developing its own exchange using a $99 million federal grant. However, in a speech to legislators Aug. 19, Gov. Asa Hutchinson questioned the need for a state exchange.

States that have tried to develop their own exchanges have also experienced difficulties to the point of ending their efforts. Arkansas is considering using a template from seven states whose efforts have been more successful.

The state’s health care system is in a state of flux. A Health Reform Legislative Task Force is meeting to consider changes to the state’s various offerings, including the private option. Meanwhile, the state is awaiting a report from the Gartner Group on its troubled eligibility and enrollment verification system, which also would affect the exchange.

“We’re a little slow on the government side because there are so many things that are up in the air,” Sanders said.

Sanders said after the meeting that he hopes the picture will be clearer and AHIM will be able to move forward in a few weeks. AHIM has been advised by its consultant, Public Consulting Group, that the risks increase significantly if progress hasn’t been made by Nov. 1, said Cheryl Smith Gardner, AHIM’s executive director. AHIM originally had planned to issue a procurement document May 27 but has been forced to delay its efforts because of the eligibility and enrollment system’s problems.

Meanwhile, the exchange for small businesses is moving toward its launch on Nov. 1, said John Norman, AHIM’s operations officer. Arkansas is the only state that is developing its individual and small business offerings independently.

Norman said the state is in the midst of the “user acceptance testing” phase of development, which started Sept. 14 and will run through Oct. 16. The state has created about 900 test cases. So far, 221 of the 271 test cases were successfully completed, meaning the “user” was successful three times in a row without a failure. Norman said none of the failures were “high severity.”

Norman said Arkansas’ system is undergoing more testing than healthcare.gov underwent.

The state’s small business exchange has one health insurance provider, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and two dental providers. The federal version in Arkansas only has about a dozen employers and less than 200 employees, said Gardner.