Tuesday, July 12, 2011

HHS Officials Admit Misinformation on Exchanges

While Administration officials claimed that the Exchange regulations released yesterday will provide the same coverage Members of Congress receive, and will provide “flexibility” to states, this morning’s news coverage reveals exactly why that is NOT the case.  In its coverage of the proposed rules, the New York Times’ article includes these interesting paragraphs regarding the Administration’s claims regarding same:

Trumpeting the advent of the exchanges, the administration said Monday that they would “give Americans the same insurance choices as members of Congress.”  However, in response to questions after a news conference on Monday, health officials acknowledged that this claim was not necessarily correct.

A small employer will be able to pick “a level of coverage” for its employees.  A higher level will pay more of the consumer’s medical costs. Under the law, members of Congress must generally get their coverage through an exchange.  But a small business could legally choose a level of coverage lower than those offered to federal employees, including members of Congress.

Under the rules, an employer may allow employees to choose any health plan at a given level of coverage.  But an exchange may also allow an employer to limit its workers to one or two health plans — far fewer than the number available to members of Congress and other federal workers.

Ironically, this admission comes one week after Secretary Sebelius, in a speech to young people, asked them to keep “pushing back on the lies and the mistruths” about Obamacare.

Second, Politico notes this morning that the regulations “raise more questions than those [they] answer,” with “many crucial topics unaddressed.”  But there is more than a whiff of a paternalistic federal role, including the suggestion that “the federal government could have a heavy hand in approving changes to state exchanges.”  The implication that changes to Exchanges will be approved in the same manner as Medicaid State Plan Amendments suggests that states will have to come to Washington on bended knee to beg “Mother, may I?” if they want to change their programs.  That’s not flexibility – that’s more Washington mandates.

Speaker Pelosi famously said we had to pass the bill to find out what’s in it – and the same may apply to Obamacare’s regulations.  Fewer than 24 hours after their release, two of the main talking points regarding Exchanges have already been debunked and undermined.  The only question now is:  What other “hidden gems” will states find in the form of new federal mandates as they continue to examine the hundreds of pages of regulations released yesterday?