Healthcare and consumer advocates in Maine recently objected to Republican Gov. Paul LePage's plan to house the state's health insurance exchange within a state department, fearing that politics would become too entrenched within the exchange, according to a Maine Public Broadcasting Network report.
Gov. LePage created a nine-member advisory panel to create aspects of the exchange, and it recommended the exchange to be maintained within Maine's Department of Professional and Financial Regulation, according to the report.
However, some groups, such as Consumers for Affordable Health Care, want the exchange to be created as an independent public agency. "Having the exchange as an independent agency would allow the governance of the exchange to be through an independent board," said Mitchell Stein, policy director for CAHC, in the report.
The advisory panel is scheduled to meet again in December to propose full exchange recommendations to the state legislature.
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Gov. LePage created a nine-member advisory panel to create aspects of the exchange, and it recommended the exchange to be maintained within Maine's Department of Professional and Financial Regulation, according to the report.
However, some groups, such as Consumers for Affordable Health Care, want the exchange to be created as an independent public agency. "Having the exchange as an independent agency would allow the governance of the exchange to be through an independent board," said Mitchell Stein, policy director for CAHC, in the report.
The advisory panel is scheduled to meet again in December to propose full exchange recommendations to the state legislature.
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