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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Coalition Calls for Consumer-Friendly AZ Insurance Exchange

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Tuesday, September 20, 2011   

PHOENIX - In the next two years, Arizona will consider creating a state health-insurance exchange, potentially to help 1 million Arizonans obtain affordable health coverage.

A coalition of 40 community groups is calling for the exchange to be as consumer-friendly as possible. Matt Jewett, health policy director for the Children's Action Alliance, says the public should be involved from the beginning.

"Run by a governing board that has majority consumer input. The governing board should be knowledgeable about the health-care industry without having a direct conflict of interest."

Covering people who are uninsured or underinsured should help everyone by pooling risk and reducing the costs of uncompensated health care, Jewett says.

Jewett says the insurance exchange will help make health insurance affordable for low and middle-income Arizonans who make too much money to qualify for AHCCCS (Access), the state's version of Medicaid.

"They will be able to get a tax subsidy that helps them buying a health insurance plan through the exchange and only through the exchange. That's available for people making up to four times the federal poverty level. It's about $88,000 a year for a family of four."

A separate health insurance exchange for small businesses could be combined with the consumer exchange to help small businesses get the same rates as larger companies, Jewett says.

"They would be able to go into the health-insurance exchange. They could offer a wider variety of plans to their employees, and they could do it at hopefully less expensive rates than what they're doing now."

If the Legislature and governor fail to create an Arizona health-insurance exchange within the next two years, Jewett says, the federal government will step in.

"The exchange has to be operational on Jan. 1, 2014. However, a year before that, the federal government is going to look at all states and see whether or not they have plans in place for a viable health-insurance exchange."

Even in some states which are suing to overturn the federal health-reform law, Jewett says, plans still are moving forward to create insurance exchanges.


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