The most controversial reforms – including the requirement that
individuals buy coverage or pay a penalty -- don't start until 2014, and
phase-ins continue until 2018. But the bill requires states to start
working now to improve their data-collecting and enforcement mechanisms.
It was hoped states would create their own insurance exchanges, to match individuals with insurance plans; establish "high-risk" pools to insure people now shunned by providers; and police new restrictions on insurance company profitsBut Gov. Charlie Crist opted last spring not to immediately tap into federal grant money to create a Florida high-risk pool to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions, deferring to the federal government. And now Cannon, R-Winter Park, and Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, may seek to block any cooperation by the state.
Florida has been awarded $43 million in grants to provide $250 rebates to seniors who fall into the "donut hole" in the Medicare prescription drug program; to help prepare the Office of Insurance Regulation to evaluate out-of-state insurers seeking to sell health coverage in the state; and to plan for creating a health-care marketplace, or "exchange," and other changes.
But even before he was officially named speaker, Cannon warned Crist that no state agency should take any steps to comply with the law "without clear and comprehensive guidance from the Legislature." The Oct. 19 letter demanded an itemized accounting of all state agency activities regarding the federal law.
It was hoped states would create their own insurance exchanges, to match individuals with insurance plans; establish "high-risk" pools to insure people now shunned by providers; and police new restrictions on insurance company profitsBut Gov. Charlie Crist opted last spring not to immediately tap into federal grant money to create a Florida high-risk pool to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions, deferring to the federal government. And now Cannon, R-Winter Park, and Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, may seek to block any cooperation by the state.
Florida has been awarded $43 million in grants to provide $250 rebates to seniors who fall into the "donut hole" in the Medicare prescription drug program; to help prepare the Office of Insurance Regulation to evaluate out-of-state insurers seeking to sell health coverage in the state; and to plan for creating a health-care marketplace, or "exchange," and other changes.
But even before he was officially named speaker, Cannon warned Crist that no state agency should take any steps to comply with the law "without clear and comprehensive guidance from the Legislature." The Oct. 19 letter demanded an itemized accounting of all state agency activities regarding the federal law.
No comments:
Post a Comment