RSS
December 5, 2011 – Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson has written to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to insist federal dollars being used to help state governments create health insurance exchanges do not go to waste if a state chooses not to establish an exchange.
“I am concerned that, in light of certain statements and actions by officials from the state of Nebraska to prevent the creation of a state-based health insurance exchange, this money will be of no tangible benefit to the citizens of Nebraska. At a time when our nation is struggling to determine the appropriate use of every single federal tax dollar, awarding money in this fashion is a wasteful exercise,” Senator Nelson wrote in a letter to Sebelius on Friday.
Last week, government officials in Nebraska received a $5.4 million Affordable Insurance Exchange Level One Establishment grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in order to further its planning, research and design of a state-based health insurance exchange. Nebraska is one of the 13 states that applied for and received the grant.
The new health care law asks the states to establish state-based exchanges for private health insurance so consumers will have more choices available to them and be better able to control costs. States that choose not to establish state-based exchanges will cede authority to the federal government to design and run a health insurance exchange for citizens in those states.
The state of Nebraska has taken a position opposing the health care law, is seeking its repeal and has refused to implement the exchanges at least until after the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the law. Yet, the state of Nebraska had already received $1 million from the federal government to help implement the health care law, in addition to the new $5.4 million health insurance exchange grant.
“For the sake of clarity concerning the use of taxpayer dollars, I strongly suggest that you make it clear to every state requesting Level One Establishment grant funding that they need not do so and that they may defer planning, design and implementation of the exchange to the federal government if they so choose. In addition, states may return grant monies associated with the creation of exchanges, as officials from the states of Kansas and Oklahoma have said they will do,” Nelson wrote in the letter.
Nelson said taxpayers have the right to know how the reports and infrastructure created as a result of the grant money will be used by the federal government if Nebraska does not end up designing its own health insurance exchange.
“I request that HHS describe how it will use the work product produced by the state as part of a federal exchange should Nebraska decide not to establish a state-based health insurance exchange. If taxpayer dollars are to be used to plan and develop an exchange, the work product created in that process should not go to waste if a state decides it will not establish an exchange,” Nelson wrote.
“Given that the Governor of Nebraska opposes implementing the exchange for which the Level One Establishment grant funding is intended to facilitate, a prompt response is requested in order to allow for the potential return of these taxpayer funds,” he concluded.
Nelson is the former director of the Nebraska Department of Insurance. He is a long-time supporter of state health insurance exchanges as a way for consumers to have the most choice and receive the most value when choosing among private health insurance plans.
“I support, and pushed hard for, state health insurance exchanges to keep this at the state level. They’re good for consumers, have been around for years, and were operating in other states even before health care reform,” Nelson said last week.
###
Search: Issues, Economy, Budget, Families, Health Care, Press