After many Republican senators raised worries, Missouri insurance authorities
backed off plans Thursday to begin spending millions of government money on the
computer technologies required to put into action section of the new federal
healthcare law endorsed by Obama.
Missouri was given a $21 million federal grant recently to prepare for the state-run "health insurance exchange," which will allow customers to look for health insurance policies by using an online marketplace. Within the new federal healthcare law, states have until 2014 to either set up their own insurance exchanges or get their online marketplace run on their behalf by the government.
Missouri has not formally made a decision which course to take. A bill permitting a state-run exchange approved by the House in bipartisan fashion earlier this year but died in the United states senate due to opposition from many Republican senators who don't like Obama's healthcare law.
A state board had been planned Thursday to formally accept the federal grant funds, establish a Show-Me Health Insurance Exchange unit, select a project manager and allocate $13.7 million for experts to work on the technical aspects of the insurance exchange. However the governing board for the Missouri Health Insurance Pool cancelled the votes after several Republican senators reported that Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon's administration appeared set to apply the health-insurance exchange without legislative approval.
"We will work using the Legislature to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of establishing a state exchange or defaulting towards the federal government," said state insurance director John Huff, who has served as Nixon's project director for the possible insurance exchange.
Huff didn't say when, or whether or not, the problem will probably be brought back towards the board for a vote. But he said setting up the essential technologies is really a long and complex procedure that would have to start as soon as possible if Missouri would be to start taking applications for a wellness insurance exchange within the second half of 2013 and have the program ready by 2014. Missouri can invest the federal grant to start creating a wellness insurance exchange, then halt the project later with out having to return the money to the federal administration, Huff added.
Some senators would prefer that Missouri not invest the federal funds and rather merely wait to see if the federal government follows through on the law to create its own system. They note that the federal law already faces a court challenge and that the 2012 presidential election will happen prior to the implementation date for the health-insurance exchanges.
Tensions rose amongst senators earlier Thursday throughout a meeting of a special Senate committee set as much as gather public testimony on whether or not to implement a state-run, health-insurance exchange. Noting the agenda for the Wellness Insurance Pool board meeting later within the day, Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, announced that it appeared Nixon's administration was attempting to sidestep the Legislature and implement the insurance exchange itself. That upset other senators.
"The constitution is out the window, the republic is dissolved and we're just going to have dictatorship by fiat that they're going to do this," declared Sen. Luann Ridgeway, R-Smithville, suggesting that individuals get up, march more than towards the other board meeting and demand they not proceed using the vote.
Later within the day, Schaaf and St. Louis-area Sens. Jane Cunningham and Jim Lembke met with Huff and also the chairman of the Wellness Insurance Pool board to ask them to delay the vote, which they agreed to do.
"The three of us extremely forcefully explained that we don't think that the Legislature is of a mind to produce the exchange," Schaaf stated.
Cunningham stated that establishing a state-run insurance exchange topic towards the provisions within the federal wellness care law would violate the spirit of a measure approved in August 2010 by Missouri voters. That law, for which Cunningham was the lead advocate, attempts to rebuff a central component of the federal law requiring most Americans to have wellness insurance by 2014 or face tax penalties.
If Missouri insurance officials begin spending the $21 million federal grant, "you are setting up a war in between the (Nixon) administration and also the Legislature," Cunningham stated.
Public passion also ran high throughout the Senate committee hearing. James Coyne, an insurance broker from Columbia, delivered what he stated had been 400 letters opposed to a state-run wellness insurance exchange. He described the $21 million grant as a bribe to comply with federal manage of the wellness care method.
But Deanna Noriega, 63, of Fulton, stated she has had difficulty all through her life obtaining wellness insurance simply because she is blind. She expressed hope that a wellness insurance exchange would assist make insurance much more accessible and inexpensive.
Missouri was given a $21 million federal grant recently to prepare for the state-run "health insurance exchange," which will allow customers to look for health insurance policies by using an online marketplace. Within the new federal healthcare law, states have until 2014 to either set up their own insurance exchanges or get their online marketplace run on their behalf by the government.
Missouri has not formally made a decision which course to take. A bill permitting a state-run exchange approved by the House in bipartisan fashion earlier this year but died in the United states senate due to opposition from many Republican senators who don't like Obama's healthcare law.
A state board had been planned Thursday to formally accept the federal grant funds, establish a Show-Me Health Insurance Exchange unit, select a project manager and allocate $13.7 million for experts to work on the technical aspects of the insurance exchange. However the governing board for the Missouri Health Insurance Pool cancelled the votes after several Republican senators reported that Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon's administration appeared set to apply the health-insurance exchange without legislative approval.
"We will work using the Legislature to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of establishing a state exchange or defaulting towards the federal government," said state insurance director John Huff, who has served as Nixon's project director for the possible insurance exchange.
Huff didn't say when, or whether or not, the problem will probably be brought back towards the board for a vote. But he said setting up the essential technologies is really a long and complex procedure that would have to start as soon as possible if Missouri would be to start taking applications for a wellness insurance exchange within the second half of 2013 and have the program ready by 2014. Missouri can invest the federal grant to start creating a wellness insurance exchange, then halt the project later with out having to return the money to the federal administration, Huff added.
Some senators would prefer that Missouri not invest the federal funds and rather merely wait to see if the federal government follows through on the law to create its own system. They note that the federal law already faces a court challenge and that the 2012 presidential election will happen prior to the implementation date for the health-insurance exchanges.
Tensions rose amongst senators earlier Thursday throughout a meeting of a special Senate committee set as much as gather public testimony on whether or not to implement a state-run, health-insurance exchange. Noting the agenda for the Wellness Insurance Pool board meeting later within the day, Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, announced that it appeared Nixon's administration was attempting to sidestep the Legislature and implement the insurance exchange itself. That upset other senators.
"The constitution is out the window, the republic is dissolved and we're just going to have dictatorship by fiat that they're going to do this," declared Sen. Luann Ridgeway, R-Smithville, suggesting that individuals get up, march more than towards the other board meeting and demand they not proceed using the vote.
Later within the day, Schaaf and St. Louis-area Sens. Jane Cunningham and Jim Lembke met with Huff and also the chairman of the Wellness Insurance Pool board to ask them to delay the vote, which they agreed to do.
"The three of us extremely forcefully explained that we don't think that the Legislature is of a mind to produce the exchange," Schaaf stated.
Cunningham stated that establishing a state-run insurance exchange topic towards the provisions within the federal wellness care law would violate the spirit of a measure approved in August 2010 by Missouri voters. That law, for which Cunningham was the lead advocate, attempts to rebuff a central component of the federal law requiring most Americans to have wellness insurance by 2014 or face tax penalties.
If Missouri insurance officials begin spending the $21 million federal grant, "you are setting up a war in between the (Nixon) administration and also the Legislature," Cunningham stated.
Public passion also ran high throughout the Senate committee hearing. James Coyne, an insurance broker from Columbia, delivered what he stated had been 400 letters opposed to a state-run wellness insurance exchange. He described the $21 million grant as a bribe to comply with federal manage of the wellness care method.
But Deanna Noriega, 63, of Fulton, stated she has had difficulty all through her life obtaining wellness insurance simply because she is blind. She expressed hope that a wellness insurance exchange would assist make insurance much more accessible and inexpensive.
