The Obama Administration aims to fund health insurance exchanges in Texas and other states that don’t opt to set up their own through fees paid by participating insurers. A report issued last week by U.S. Health and Human Services provides details on how federally run HIEs would operate.
The amount of the fee will vary, based on the number of members a health plan enrolls; it will start at 3.5 percent of the plan member’s premium in 2014. The fees are intended to cover administrative costs of the new markets, which are designed to be self-supporting.
According to a report in The Washington Post, U.S. states that are setting up their own HIEs are also looking at charging fees to participating insurers.
HHS will accept comments on its guidance for the next 30 days.
