The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of the Treasury approved a waiver from Georgia, allowing the state to forgo a government-run website to help residents shop for health insurance plans, according to a press release from the agency.
With the waiver, the state will transition its electronic marketplace for the individual health insurance market from a federally facilitated exchange to a private sector platform called the Georgia Access Model, beginning in 2023. Under the model, consumers will shop for, compare and enroll in available plans through private sector partners, including web-brokers, health insurance companies, and traditional agents and brokers, CMS said.
Under the Affordable Care Act, states typically run their own ACA electronic health insurance marketplace or use the federal healthcare.gov website.
Another phase of Georgia’s waiver program implements a reinsurance program starting in 2022. The reinsurance program is expected to reduce annual premiums in the individual market by an average of 10 percent and will target savings to rural areas, according to CMS.
The action also builds on CMS’s earlier approval of a Georgia Medicaid demonstration project in which working-age adults opt into Medicaid coverage by participating in qualifying activities like work and education.
