Arkansas businesses using the federal small-business health insurance exchange for their workers will have to sign up again if they want to use an exchange being set up by a state board, according to an email to board members.
The Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace's goal had been to transfer enrollment data from the federal exchange to the state exchange to "avoid customer impact," spokesman Heather Haywood said Friday.
But in her email to members of the marketplace board of directors, Haywood said the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services "will not be able to support the migration of customer data" from the federal small-business exchange to a state-based exchange "due to CMS privacy and security policies that they have not been able to work" in time for the Nov. 1 start of enrollment in the state-based exchange.
The information from the federal officials indicates that the Arkansas marketplace "will be required to reach out to Arkansas employers enrolled in the [federal marketplace] to help them through the AHIM SHOP re-enrollment process."
Marketplace board member Fred Bean, president of a benefits consulting firm in Little Rock, said he didn't expect having to re-enroll through the state exchange to create much of a hassle for businesses.
It's not unusual for a business to switch insurance companies at the end of a plan year, triggering the need for employees to enroll in a different plan, he said.
Bean said he's more concerned with making sure the state exchange is easy for brokers and business owners to use. That includes applying for a federal tax credit available to businesses with fewer than 25 employees that pay average wages of less than $50,000.
"The broker's got to explain it, and the employer's got to accept the process," Bean said.
Created by the state Legislature in 2013, the marketplace board is using money from a $99.9 million federal grant to establish exchanges for individual consumers and small businesses.
Enrollment in the exchange for individual consumers is expected to start in the fall of 2016.
Reston, Va.-based hCentive, which was hired by the board under a $7.2 million contract to build the small-business exchange, built the federal exchange and already has the electronic files on the Arkansas businesses receiving coverage through it.
But Haywood said marketplace board officials learned during a phone call with a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services official on Thursday that the federal agency's agreements with the businesses do not allow the enrollment files to be transferred to the state-based exchange.
She added that the small number of businesses enrolled in the federal exchange makes it "manageable for us to contact those employers and assist them through the enrollment process."
As of Jan. 14, about 20 employers were using the federal small-business exchange, with plans covering a total of 156 employees, an Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield spokesman has said.
The insurance company is the only one offering plans through the small-business exchange in Arkansas.
Haywood said she didn't know whether the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will be able to transfer enrollment files from the federal exchange for individual consumers to the state exchange next year.
A person who answered the phone at the press office for the federal agency said no one was available to answer questions about the matter on Friday afternoon.
John Norman, the state marketplace board's director of operations, said a business' transfer from the federal exchange to the state exchange would happen when the business renews its policies for a new plan year.
Many businesses renew their policies at the beginning of the calendar year, while others renew at different times throughout the year.
Metro on 05/30/2015