NC Health Benefit Exchange Bill Pushed Through HHS Committee

The House Health and Human Services Committee approved a rewrite of HB 115, NC Health Benefit Exchange Act today.  The legislation would establish a Health Benefit Exchange Authority Board to oversee and monitor the exchange.  The Board would consist of a variety of players including the Commissioner of Insurance and the Director of the Division of Medical Assistance as ex officio nonvoting members in addition to 11 other members.  Four of the members will be appointed by the Senate President Pro Tem, four by the House Speaker, and three by the Governor.  The members would represent big business, small business, insurers, hospitals, doctors, and consumers covered by the plans.

The bill also sets forth a Board conflict of interest clause and lays out the Board’s fiduciary duties.   The legislation would set up qualified plans to be available to qualified individuals and employers around January 1, 2014.

However, again I’ll ask – what’s the rush? We have plenty of time to figure out how to make our state exchange as competitive and patient/consumer-driven as possible.  Let’s first wait and see whether the federal healthcare law (ObamaCare) is found to be constitutional before wasting any more time debating legislation that might be arbitrary in the end.