A state board would spend more than $550,000 on a program to provide outreach workers to help people enroll through Arkansas’ health insurance exchange under a proposal endorsed by members of a board committee on Wednesday.
Operating a program to provide such health insurance “navigators” will be required if the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace, a nonprofit created by the state Legislature, receives federal approval to take over the state’s health insurance exchange for individual consumers, as Gov. Asa Hutchinson has proposed.
Under Hutchinson’s proposal, Arkansas would continue to use the federal system, including the healthcare.gov website, to enroll consumers but would have responsibility for conducting consumer outreach and setting standards for insurance plans offered on the exchange.
At a meeting of the Marketplace Board’s Consumer Assistance Committee on Wednesday, representatives of the Boston-based Public Consulting Group estimated that $552,363 would pay for about 15 full-time navigators, which the firm estimated would be enough to meet the state’s needs.
Money to pay the workers would ultimately come from a 3 percent premium fee on plans sold on the state’s insurance exchange that the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace hopes to begin charging next year.
The full marketplace board is expected to vote on the proposal at its next meeting, on Sept. 21.
State Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Hindsville, said after the meeting that he hopes the state can request a waiver exempting it from having to provide navigators.
He doesn’t want taxpayer dollars to go toward encouraging people to sign up for government assistance, especially when enrollment in Medicaid-supported plans offered through the insurance exchange has already exceeded expectations.