Sign on page for Guiding Principles

Join other groups, organizations, and faith communities and sign the Guiding Principles - Link to Why Sign?

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires the establishment of health insurance marketplaces, called “exchanges,” in every state. Exchanges are designed to bring high-quality, easy-to-understand health coverage options to individuals and small businesses. The law envisions that states will establish their own exchanges; however, the federal government will establish an exchange in any state that fails to do so.

The purpose of these guiding principles is to educate government officials and the public about fundamental protections necessary to ensure that the Tennessee Health Insurance Exchange will meet the needs of individual consumers and small employers it is designed to serve. A more detailed explanation of each principle is provided in the succeeding pages.

1. Viability: The Health Insurance Exchange (Exchange) will be designed to succeed — attractive to all stakeholders, well regulated, and financially stable.
2. Risk Pools: The Exchange will ensure adherence to standards that prevent adverse selection of enrollees in all health insurance plans, both within and outside the Exchange.
3. Consumer Representation: The Exchange will ensure that consumers — individuals, families, and small businesses — are well represented in the development of all policies and procedures related to the Exchange.
4. Governance: The Exchange will be governed in accordance with standards of transparency and public accountability to insulate it from undue commercial or political pressure.
5. Coverage Options: The Exchange will provide a manageable number of choices among high-quality, affordable health plans with concise, comparative information on the benefits and costs of options, including the availability of particular specialty services in each geographic service area.
6. Enrollment Process: The Exchange will make eligibility determination, enrollment, and renewal or change of health coverage simple, seamless, and consumer-friendly, requiring a single application for all health plan options, including TennCare and CoverKids.
7. Essential Health Benefits: The Exchange will ensure that enrollees have access to physical and behavioral health services that adhere to guidelines developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Institute of Medicine, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
8. Provider Network: The Exchange will foster broad access to comprehensive, coordinated health care of high quality through a diverse, robust network of health care providers.

Join the League of Women Voters of Tennessee and other organizations in supporting these principles, please complete information below and "Click to Sign Principles."