In a conversation with California Healthline, Kim Belshé — former secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency and a member of the California Health Benefit Exchange Board — discussed how the state’s health benefit exchange can expand coverage, improve quality and reduce costs.
Belshé outlined several tasks that newly appointed members of the California Health Benefit Exchange must tackle, including:
- Hiring an executive director and initial staff;
- Developing a business plan;
- Applying for a federal implementation or establishment grant;
- Determining the scope of the exchange’s responsibilities as it relates to eligibility and enrollment systems; and
- Working on community outreach and engagement.
Belshé said the health benefit exchange “is an important piece, if not a centerpiece, of health reform and, in my judgment, really offers the most potential there is to drive transformative change in how health care coverage is accessed and how health care is organized and delivered” (California Healthline, 3/1).
The complete transcript of this report is available as a PDF.