Managed Risk Insurance Board To Cease Operations on June 30

Under a provision of the state budget plan passed by California lawmakers on Sunday, the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board will be dissolved on June 30, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.

MRMIB was created 24 years ago to help residents with pre-existing conditions obtain health coverage. About 3,200 individuals currently are enrolled in the Major Risk Medical Insurance Program (Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal, 6/17).

Background on Budget Plan

The $156.4 billion budget plan was approved by a 25-11 vote in the state Senate, with one Republican lawmaker voting in favor of the proposal, and by a 55-24 vote along party lines in the Assembly.

It now heads to Gov. Jerry Brown (D), who has until the end of June to sign it (California Healthline, 6/16).

Details of Agency Dissolution

Since the Affordable Care Act now guarantees coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions, MRMIB has become unnecessary, the Business Journal reports.

Under the budget plan, MRMIB will cease operations at the end of June and several of the agency's programs will be transferred to the state Department of Health Care Services, including:

• Access for Infants and Mothers; and
• Healthy Families, the state's Children's Health Insurance Program.

Twenty-seven MRMIB positions also will be shifted to DHCS or Covered California, the state insurance exchange.

Moving Forward

The budget plan also calls for the state by Aug. 1 to convene a group of stakeholders to determine ways to continue providing insurance for state residents who do not qualify for health coverage or subsidies through the ACA or other programs.

A potential funding source could come from a bill (SB 857) that calls for the stakeholder group to consider allocating tobacco taxes and managed care plans' administrative fines as a money source (Sacramento Business Journal, 6/17).