Nebraska issues health exchange RFP

By Noah Guillaume

September 19, 2012 at 12:07 PM

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The state of Nebraska is looking for a qualified contractor to build and operate its health insurance exchange to be administered by the Nebraska Department of Insurance (NDI).

As part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, each state is required to have a health insurance exchange running by Jan. 1, 2014. A more immediate deadline is Nov. 16, when states must have a plan submitted to the federal government that shows how each state will run its exchange. The government will create an exchange for any state that does not submit a plan or has theirs rejected.

Health insurance exchange planners at the NDI estimate the exchange would serve between 100,000 and 300,000 enrollees by 2016, depending on the structure of the exchange.

In the RFP, the state said it has completed the preliminary design phase and has a vision to develop a web-based solution. The contractor will design, develop and implement an exchange that combines the individual exchange and the Small Business Health Options Program exchange into one interface.

In a report posted on the NDI website in October, the planners concluded that there was not sufficient information provided for any state to meet the 2014 deadline. At the time, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight were running behind in developing key regulations central to the coverage sold on the exchange.

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