Standards ensuring that consumers have access to sufficient networks of health care professionals on federally operated health insurance exchanges need to be tightened, the American Medical Association wrote in a March 15 letter to the Obama administration.
In his correspondence to acting Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, AMA Executive Vice President and CEO James L. Madara, MD, specified what information qualified health plans on these marketplaces should be providing. Insurance regulators and consumers need to be able to make informed decisions on whether a plan’s network has an adequate supply of primary care and specialty physicians, he stated.
Dr. Madara was responding to guidance CMS issued March 1 to insurance companies that will be offering qualified health plans in federally facilitated or partnership health insurance exchanges. These are the companies CMS will be working with, as both the federal and partnership models involve a central administrative role for the federal government. States pursuing partnership exchanges will retain some traditional state insurance roles while receiving federal structural and financial support to run the marketplaces.
Read more: http://amednews.com/article/20130329/government/130329968/8/
Read more: http://amednews.com/article/20130329/government/130329968/8/