MULTI-JURISDICTION
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded 13 states nearly $220 million in Affordable Insurance Exchange grants to help them create fully operational online exchanges by 2014 that individuals and small businesses will use to select health insurance plans. The recently announced Affordable Insurance Exchange grants bring to 29 the number of states HHS deems as having made significant progress in developing these exchanges. The new states receiving funding are: Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Vermont. Affordable Insurance Exchanges, which are mandated under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), will allow individuals and small businesses to go online to find and compare private health insurance plans. The role of these state health insurance exchanges is to bring transparency to the health insurance marketplace, as well as enable consumers to compare plans based on price and quality, which will spur competition and help lower costs. HHS Grants $220 Million For Health Insurance Exchanges
MASSACHUSETTS
Massachusetts Treasurer Steve Grossman is making good on his campaign promise to bring the state’s finances online. Massachusetts Open Checkbook, a website detailing the state’s expenditures, will go live this week in an effort to increase transparency. The website will contain not only expenditures, but contract details as the state works to lower overall contracting costs. Grossman staked out several aggressive campaign positions to become treasurer. In addition to putting all of the state’s finances online, Grossman intends to move much of the state’s public funds out of large financial institutions and into local community banks. He also plans to look at reforms to the state pension that go further than those passed by the legislature last year. The launch of Massachusetts Open Checkbook will take place this week. Mass. finances go online
MICHGAN
The idea is extreme, even in a city accustomed to fighting for survival: Should the state of Michigan step in to run Detroit? The governor has taken steps in that direction, proposing an unprecedented move that could give an appointed manager virtually unchecked power to gut union contracts, cut employee health insurance and slash services. But city leaders bristle at the notion. Said the mayor: "This is our city. Detroit needs to be run by Detroiters." If it happens, Detroit would be the largest American city ever taken over by a state. Michigan has seized control of smaller struggling cities, but until now Detroit was always off-limits. That changed this week, when Governor Rick Snyder's administration said it would begin a review of Detroit's precarious finances. If the governor concludes that the city's economic situation constitutes an emergency, he could dispatch a manager who could push the mayor and city council to the sidelines. It's not clear how everyday services like trash pickup and bus routes would be affected, but the fixer's mission would be clear: Do whatever it takes to stop the bleeding.
VIRGINIA
The cities of Chesapeake, Norfolk and Virginia Beach are creating a public-private partnership to study the possibility of sharing services to save money. The Hampton Roads Partnership is organizing the pilot project with executives from Amerigroup Corp., Dollar Tree Inc., Huntington Ingalls Industries, Norfolk Southern Corp. and Smithfield Foods. With Management Partners, an Ohio-based management consulting firm, the goal is to review the three cities' organizations to identify public services that could be shared among jurisdictions and determine the potential costs, savings and steps required to integrate them. The idea of sharing services isn't new and has often been brought up among Hampton Roads' city managers. But now, the three cities and five companies are sharing the cost of the $150,000 pilot project, a news release from Norfolk Southern said. Cities launch study on possibility of sharing services
Virginia is stalling out on its health insurance exchange plans. Governor Bob McDonnell’s administration has indicated that it will not push lawmakers to create a state-run health insurance exchange during the 2012 session. Despite that, some legislators are working on a placeholder measure that would ensure that the state maintains control of its exchange. According to federal health care reform legislation, states have two options on health insurance exchanges – either create their own by the 2013 deadline and maintain control or become part of a large, generic exchange administered by the federal Department of Health and Human Services. Several states are challenging provisions of health care reform on the basis of constitutionality. Virginia stalls health insurance exchange