Contracts for insurance exchange-related services clear ...

By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK ?A Republican lawmaker?s mistake today allowed a legislative panel to advance without discussion two proposed contracts for services related to setting up a federally mandated health insurance exchange in Arkansas.

Republicans have been the most vocal opponents of state involvement in planning for the health care reform law now before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Review Subcommittee of the state Legislative Council voted today to declare the contracts reviewed before any testimony was presented or any questions were asked. Rep. Jonathan Barnett, R-Siloam Springs, who made the motion to declare the contracts reviewed, said later he did not realize at the time that his motion would prevent any discussion of the contracts by the subcommittee.

?I didn?t mean to do what I did,? he said.

After he realized his mistake, Barnett moved for reconsideration of the vote. The motion was seconded but failed in a voice vote.

Barnett noted that legislators will still have a chance to discuss the contracts when they go next to the Legislative Council for approval. The council meets April 20.

The proposed contracts are for $298,000 and $278,850, both with Public Consulting Group of Boston. Both would be funded entirely with federal dollars.

The services the company would provide include developing a plan for the state Insurance Department to regulate the sale of insurance plans through the exchange and developing a program in which facilitators called ?navigators? would help Arkansans use the exchange to obtain insurance.

Thursday, the Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Subcommittee is scheduled to consider a $7.7 million federal grant to fund various aspects of planning for the exchange.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 requires the creation of insurance exchanges in every state by 2014. States were given the option of setting up their own exchanges, but Arkansas declined, so the state?s exchange will be run by the federal government.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in legal challenges to the federal health care law last week. The court has not yet issued a ruling.

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