Insurance-exchange job now sought by 28

A former Arkansas insurance commissioner, a former official with the Utah health-insurance exchange and a pharmaceutical executive are among those who have applied to become director of the organization exploring a possible state-run health-insurance exchange in Arkansas, the organization’s records show.

The applications that the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace board of directors had received as of Wednesday included 26 that were submitted after Jan. 15, when the board decided to extend the application deadline from Jan. 10 to March 1.

At the time the board extended the deadline, it had received only two applications. One was from state Rep. Mark Biviano, R-Searcy, who sponsored the law last year that created the board.

The more recent applications include those of Robert Eubanks, who served as insurance commissioner under Gov. Bill Clinton in the 1980s; Cheryl Smith, a consultant who was director of policy and strategy for Utah’s health-insurance exchange for about two years; and Sharon Barnett-Myers, an executive with United BioSource Corp. who was a deputy director with Mississippi’s Medicaid program.

Contacted by phone Wednesday, Eubanks, 61, said he most recently worked for Hot Springs-based Mountain Valley Spring Water, where he was general counsel until 2011, when the company decided to “outsource” the job to a private law firm. Since, then, he said, he’s been semiretired and looking for a state government job that would allow him to serve the two years he needs to vest his state pension.

He said the Health Insurance Marketplace director’s job would be “a nice arrow to put in my quiver,” but he wants to do some more research on what it would require.

“The list of duties is somewhat daunting … I’m not sure that it will fit, frankly,” he said.

Act 1500 of 2013, sponsored by Biviano, created the Health Insurance Marketplace board and directed it to decide whether Arkansas should take over the operation of its health-insurance exchange from the federal government as soon as next year.

Established under the federal health-care overhaul law, the exchange allows people to shop for coverage and apply for federal tax credits to help them pay for it. More than 30 states, including Arkansas, have federally run exchanges. The other states set up their own exchanges.

The salary for the executive director hasn’t been set, but board member Steve Faris has said it should be at least $10,000 less than Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford’s annual salary, which is $129,525.

At a meeting in Little Rock on Wednesday, the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace board’s search committee decided to meet again on March 5 to narrow the applicants to a list of five finalists to recommend to the full board.

The committee also decided that the full board should hear presentations Wednesday from companies that responded to a solicitation for a consulting firm to provide planning and research services through August. The board hopes to select a firm next month.

Arkansas, Pages 10 on 02/20/2014

Upcoming Events