{"id":10365,"date":"2012-08-30T12:20:22","date_gmt":"2012-08-30T18:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=10365"},"modified":"2012-08-30T12:20:22","modified_gmt":"2012-08-30T18:20:22","slug":"idaho-health-exchange-group-hears-from-prominent-foes-of-the-federal-health-care-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/08\/30\/idaho-health-exchange-group-hears-from-prominent-foes-of-the-federal-health-care-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Idaho Health Exchange Group Hears From Prominent Foes Of The Federal Health Care Law"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_3468\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Idaho Department of Insurance Director Bill Deal.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/01\/1-5-Bill-Deal.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3468\" title=\"1-5 Bill Deal\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/01\/1-5-Bill-Deal-300x219.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"219\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/01\/1-5-Bill-Deal-300x219.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/01\/1-5-Bill-Deal-620x454.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/01\/1-5-Bill-Deal-220x161.jpg 220w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/01\/1-5-Bill-Deal.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Idaho Department of Insurance Director Bill Deal.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The work group Gov. C.L. &#8220;Butch&#8221; Otter appointed to study whether Idaho should create a state-run health insurance exchange heard from two organizations that have long opposed President Obama&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/healthreform.kff.org\/the-basics.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">health care law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Policy analysts from the Libertarian-leaning Cato Institute and the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC spoke with panel members Wednesday about why Idaho should not create its own exchange.<\/p>\n<p>Under the federal health care law, states can decide to create and operate their own exchanges, participate in a federally-established exchange, or let the feds create an exchange with the plan to eventually transition to a state-run model.\u00a0 <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Unlike the <a title=\"Idaho\u2019s Health Insurance Exchange Debate\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/topic\/health-insurance-exchange-2\/\" target=\"_blank\">stand taken<\/a> by Idaho&#8217;s Department of Insurance and some prominent policymakers, the Cato Institute&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cato.org\/people\/michael-cannon\" target=\"_blank\">Michael Cannon<\/a> says there is no benefit to Idaho creating its own online marketplace to compare and purchase health insurance.<\/p>\n<div class=\"related-content alignleft\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/07\/13\/gov-otter-appoints-public-and-private-stakeholders-to-study-medicaid-expansion-insurance-exchange\/\">Gov. Otter Appoints Public And Private Stakeholders To Study Medicaid Expansion, Insurance Exchange<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/08\/02\/it-would-be-a-miracle-if-state-meets-health-insurance-exchange-deadline\/\">It Would \u201cBe A Miracle\u201d If State Meets Health Insurance Exchange Deadline<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/08\/29\/idahos-uninsured-rural-counties-post-highest-rates\/\">Idaho\u2019s Uninsured: Rural Counties Post Highest Rates<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/06\/CapitolDome_ARTSY_ERS.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/topic\/health-insurance-exchange-2\/\">Idaho\u2019s Health Insurance Exchange Debate<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;The inaction of not creating an exchange protects employers from the employer mandate, and it protects nearly half of the uninsured in Idaho from the <a href=\"http:\/\/healthreform.kff.org\/en\/notes-on-health-insurance-and-reform\/2012\/march\/the-individual-mandate-how-sweeping.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">individual mandate<\/a>,&#8221; Cannon says. &#8220;We&#8217;re talking about all employers and more than 100,000 Idahoans you can protect from Obamacare&#8217;s employer and individual mandate just by refusing to create an exchange.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This is an interpretation of the law Cannon has <a href=\"http:\/\/papers.ssrn.com\/sol3\/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2106789\" target=\"_blank\">written about extensively<\/a>, and it&#8217;s something Idaho&#8217;s Department of Insurance Director Bill Deal disagrees with.<\/p>\n<p>In hopes of finding a non-partisan response to Cannon&#8217;s analysis, <em>StateImpact<\/em> contacted the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kff.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Kaiser Family Foundation<\/a>.\u00a0 The Foundation recommended Tim Jost, a health policy expert at Washington and Lee University Law School, who has <a href=\"http:\/\/healthaffairs.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/18\/tax-credits-in-federally-facilitated-exchanges-are-consistent-with-the-affordable-care-acts-language-and-history\/#more-21337\" target=\"_blank\">directly responded<\/a> to Cannon&#8217;s interpretation of the complex health care law.<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In a<strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/healthaffairs.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/18\/tax-credits-in-federally-facilitated-exchanges-are-consistent-with-the-affordable-care-acts-language-and-history\/#more-21337\" target=\"_blank\">piece written earlier this summer<\/a><\/strong>, Jost argued that Cannon&#8217;s take is &#8220;simply false.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Jost writes, &#8220;in a number of places, including the precursor of the current premium tax credit provision, the bill refers to exchanges \u201cestablished by the state,\u201d but nowhere does it provide&#8230;that premium tax credits would not be available in any of the nongovernmental exchanges created by the federal government.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Director Deal acknowledged he disagrees with Cannon&#8217;s analysis, but work group members wanted to hear from him.\u00a0 Deal says it&#8217;s important to have the discussion.<strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Like the interpretation of the things in the Affordable Care Act, there is room for discussion about it,&#8221; Deal explains. &#8220;Some of those rules are not always clearly written.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Deal has long advocated for a state-run health insurance exchange<strong><\/strong>.\u00a0 Now, after the Legislature <a title=\"Idaho\u2019s Health Insurance Exchange Debate\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/topic\/health-insurance-exchange-2\/\" target=\"_blank\">rejected efforts to create an exchange<\/a>, the state faces a November 16 deadline to make a decision.<\/p>\n<p><del><\/del>The final call falls to Gov. C.L. &#8220;Butch&#8221; Otter, once he receives <del><\/del> recommendations from the work group led by Deal.<\/p>\n<p>Director Deal expects to meet again in mid-September and October before sending what he hopes will be a unanimous recommendation to Gov. Otter.\u00a0 Deal says he&#8217;d like to invite an expert from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for their next meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The work group Gov. C.L. &#8220;Butch&#8221; Otter appointed to study whether Idaho should create a state-run health insurance exchange heard from two organizations that have long opposed President Obama&#8217;s health care law. Policy analysts from the Libertarian-leaning Cato Institute and the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC spoke with panel members Wednesday about why [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":3468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[119,65],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10365"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10365"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10410,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10365\/revisions\/10410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}