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By Wayne Greene, Tulsa World, Okla. |
Nov. 15--OKLAHOMA CITY -- The legislative panel studying the state's response to the new federal health care law adjourned Tuesday without making a decision about the most contentious issue facing it -- whether the state should build a health insurance exchange that complies with the federal law.
The Joint Committee on Federal Health Care Law was announced last year after legislative leaders tried and failed three times to create an exchange.
Committee members will have two weeks to respond to a questionnaire on a variety of issues raised by the study, including the exchange issue, said Rep. Glen Mulready, R-Tulsa, co-chairman of the panel.
Recommendations to legislative leaders and the governor should be done by mid-December, he said.
Much broader issues need to be addressed than just the exchange, said Sen. Gary Stanislawski, R-Tulsa, co-chairman of the committee.
"It's really not do we create an exchange, do we not create an exchange," Stanislawski said. "With as much as we've learned so far, there is still much to be learned."
A health insurance exchange -- a requirement of the federal law -- is an electronic marketplace where buyers can look at insurance options and make purchases with the help of federal tax credits. The exchanges also would be a means for people eligible for Medicaid to sign up for that program.
Several witnesses have told the panel in its meetings that if the state fails to create an exchange that meets the federal law's specifications, the federal government will impose one on the state.
For example, two trade groups for insurance agents told the committee that a state exchange is important because it would allow the state to require that the people who use the exchange to connect health insurance buyers and consumers -- so-called navigators -- be licensed insurance agents. A federal exchange might not include that requirement.
But Stanislawski said one option is for the state to pass laws that would apply to any exchanges that operate in the state, without actually setting up an exchange.
Mulready said there are many options concerning an exchange, ranging from one that does not meet requirements of the federal law to one that is fully compliant.
Mulready said he and Stanislawski spent an hour Monday talking to U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn about the federal health care law.
Coburn urged them to comply with the law and not allow federal officials to impose its desires on the state. Coburn pushed an exchange similar to one used by Utah.
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(c)2011 Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.)
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Distributed by MCT Information Services
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McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
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