Two executives from health systems participating in CMS' efforts to support accountable care organizations (ACOs) say they will be involved in ACO-type products that will be offered through the health insurance exchanges in their states.

CMS tells Health Exchange Alert that the agency expects to recover start-up funds from Vermont's embattled health CO-OP plan if the entity is terminated, following the state Department of Financial Regulation's decision to reject the Consumer Oriented and Operated Plan's application to sell insurance due to concerns about solvency and board governance.

Enroll America on June 22 is formally launching its "Get Covered America" campaign to educate individuals about the health law's reforms to the insurance market and new coverage options that will soon be available, and the campaign plans to hold consumer outreach events across the country the week of June 17 leading up to the official kick-off.

Alaska appears to have only two insurers interested in its exchange next year, Blue Cross Blue Shield has filed as a Multi-State Plan, and Ohio is saying the ACA is going to result in massive spikes in health insurance costs next year based on proposed rate filings.

The White House touts a new public-private partnership involving the state of California, the state's exchange, a major non-profit and key Spanish language media outlets as a model for providing outreach on the health care law in other states -- specifically Texas and Florida -- that have large numbers of uninsured young adults. Senior White House officials say the new effort -- which the president unveiled in a Friday morning speech in California -- is expected to hit nearly 100 percent of the target community in California, which they say is "extraordinary."

The consulting group Avalere Health says data showing the health law's subsidies would help mitigate likely insurance rate hikes for young adults underscores a need for better outreach as a large percentage of that population may be unaware the subsidies are available -- a finding that comes as the White House scrambles to enlist help from regulated entities, states, Democratic lawmakers, non-government entities, public interest groups and most recently the Spanish language media in educating the public about the ACA's insurance exchanges and other benefits.

House Democrats committed to help the administration with outreach and education on insurance coverage available through the health insurance exchanges during a Democratic Caucus meeting with White House senior communications advisor Tara McGuinness, according to a Democratic staffer. Wednesday's meeting is part of a larger White House effort aimed at encouraging lawmakers to inform constituents about the benefits of the health law, and came shortly after House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) urged members to designate an "ACA Coordinator" as a point person for health law implementation.

CMS officials in a Wednesday webinar affirmed the agency will be setting up a call center by the end of the month that will be equipped to answer insurance coverage and other questions related to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in more than 100 languages. The officials also directed stakeholders to regularly check a recently launched website on the health insurance marketplaces -- marketplace.cms.gov -- to find updated information on stakeholder calls, training events and other resources.

CMS is holding a series of health insurance marketplace training webinars, with programs for "level one" trainees starting earlier this month, and more detailed "Level 2" online seminars kicking off Thursday (June 13).

The Washington Health Benefit Exchange has chosen 10 organizations to receive roughly $6 million in grants to provide in-person assistance on enrolling in qualified health plans. Colorado also announced that it chose 58 groups to provide exchange in-person assistance, and all but two of those groups will be sharing the $17 million in grants for those efforts.

Vermont's Department of Financial Regulation last week sent letters to the state's health insurance exchange (Green Mountain Care) recommending that it approve the rate filings from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont and MVP Health Plan, albeit with some slight actuarial modifications, including requiring BCBSVT to remove its assumption that healthier people would opt to enroll in its high-deductible plan. Rather than use HHS-generated factors in estimated expected claims for its various plans, BCBSVT estimated plan-specific claims of its own, one of which appeared to be that healthier individuals would be more likely to enroll in the high-deductible rather than standard deductible plan, DFR writes.

Minnesota's health insurance exchange -- known as MN Sure -- confirms that nine carriers intend to offer qualified health plans through the state's individual and small business (SHOP) marketplaces.

GOP members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee are expanding their probe into HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' efforts to generate support for Enroll America's ACA outreach efforts following the secretary's admission that she had approached several companies that are regulated by HHS.

Key business stakeholders are urging the IRS to abide by "long-standing" tax policy and allow insurers to exclude payment collected for the purpose of paying the health law's insurance fee from gross income for reporting purposes, arguing that should regulators decided to "tax the tax" the result would be increased insurance costs for small businesses and individuals. IRS proposed a rule in March that suggested such collections will not be excludable from issuers' gross income, yet solicited comments on whether the agency should issue clarification on the topic.

Maryland's state-based health insurance exchange passed a key milestone after CCIIO determined the state can move forward without relying on federal IT systems, an exchange spokesperson tells Health Exchange Alert. The exchange said that during its Final Detailed Design Review with CMS it "successfully demonstrated end-to-end enrollment" of a split family scenario, including user log-in, real-time data verification through the federal data hub, enrollment into plans, and payment and filing information that would be sent to an insurance carrier.