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Chaney may sue CMS over creation of state insurance exchange if Gov. Reeves doesn’t sign off

While Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney previously said he would not create a state exchange to offer health insurance to Mississippians unless Gov. Tate Reeves approved, the elected official who oversees the state’s insurance licensing and regulations is now pondering how to move forward in the case of Reeves not signing off on the state operating its own exchange in place of the federal government.

During a Monday interview on MidDays with Gerard Gibert, Chaney explained that Mississippi could save between $25 million and $30 million annually in fees if the state established an in-house exchange for Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans. In addition to saving money, the commissioner vouched that moving away from the federal government’s health insurance marketplace – which 19 states and Washington, D.C., have already done – could result in lower premiums along with secondary benefits being offered for those enrolled.

“We would make that much money that would stay put in the state, and then, you can use that money to either lower premiums for people in the state or you could use that money to offer other ancillary products like dental, hearing, and eye,” Chaney said. “There’s a lot of options for us to use that money.

“What you don’t want to use that money for is buying new pickup trucks for folks and stuff and other things the government normally does,” he laughed. “It’s strictly for healthcare.”

But, according to Chaney, Mississippi will not see any of the money unless the state exchange is settled in not only the governor’s office but also with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). During this year’s legislative session, a Republican-led majority of lawmakers passed a bill giving the insurance commissioner the authority to set up the state exchange. However, the bill became law without Reeves’ signature or any rationale behind his decision not to sign.

Chaney, who said he hasn’t spoken directly to Reeves about the matter since January but has discussed the possibility of a state exchange with Reeves staffers as recently as April, believes the Republican governor may come around to the idea

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