After being delayed last week, two contracts related to Arkansas’ health-insurance exchange cleared a final legislative hurdle on Monday, hours before the start of the state’s fiscal session.
One contract that cleared the Legislative Council’s Review Subcommittee will provide the state Health Insurance Marketplace Board with money from a $3.6 million federal grant to explore the possibility of the state taking over the operations of its exchange from the federal government.
The subcommittee also reviewed an extension of the Department of Insurance’s contract with Atlanta-based First Data Corp. to provide consulting services related to the federal exchange.
The Legislative Council’s Review Subcommittee had been scheduled to review the two contracts Wednesday. The review was delayed, however, when the panel adjourned because not enough members were in attendance to take action.
Rep. David Meeks, R-Conway, said after Wednesday’s meeting that he wanted the board’s contract to go to the full Legislative Council for review, even though the council is not scheduled to meet until after the fiscal session.
On Monday, he said his position hadn’t changed, but he was busy with preparations for the fiscal session and couldn’t attend the subcommittee meeting. Because he isn’t a member of the subcommittee, “there was not much I could do” anyway, he said.
Under the 2010 federal health-care overhaul law, exchanges allow people to shop for coverage and apply for subsidies to help them pay for it.
The federal government established the exchanges in more than 30 states, including Arkansas, while other states opted to set up their own exchanges.
The Legislature created the marketplace board last year to research whether Arkansas should establish its own exchange as early as next summer.
The Legislative Council’s Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review subcommittee reviewed the $3.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to the Insurance Department last week.
Because the Legislative Council does not meet this month, lawmakers said any action taken by the subcommittees would be final.
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 02/11/2014