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HHS awards federal grants for creation of health insurance exchanges
Six states and a New England consortium were awarded $241 million Wednesday to develop new technologies to facilitate access to insurance in the exchanges created by the healthcare reform law.
The so-called "early innovator" grants will allow the states to create health information technology models that can be "adopted and tailored" by other states, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The awards went to Kansas, Maryland, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Wisconsin and a consortium of New England states.
"Early Innovator states will play a critical role in developing a consumer-friendly marketplace where insurers must compete to deliver the best deal," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. "These grants ensure that consumers in every state will be able to easily navigate their way through health insurance options."
The New England consortium includes individuals and small businesses in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont. It proposes to build a technology framework at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and share its results with other New England states.
Several of the states covered by the grants — Kansas, Wisconsin and Maine — have challenged the law in court, indicating that they're nevertheless moving forward with implementation.
"Everyone wins," said Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Don Berwick. "This grant program means that states don’t have to waste money reinventing the wheel, and consumers get the best of the best."
Here's a summary of Early Innovator Grants:
• Kansas Insurance Department: $31,537,465;
• Maryland Dept of Health and Mental Hygiene: $6,227,454;
• Multi-State Consortia / University of Massachusetts Medical School: $35,591,333;
• New York Department of Health, $27,431,432;
• Oklahoma Health Care Authority, $54,582,269;
• Oregon Health Authority, $48,096,307; and
• Wisconsin Department of Health Services, $37,757,266.
