During this year's exciting State Leadership Conference, Katherine Nordal called upon the membership to become increasingly involved in shaping the future of our profession. "We're facing unchartered territory with proposed new models of care. Change is inevitable. We have to be ready to claim our place at the table. We need to be involved at the ground level when you get back home. You've got to get involved in coalitions…. We're going to have to address health insurance exchanges. These are exchanges that provide health plans for individuals and small businesses that will be set up at the state level." Without question, President Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act [P.L. 111-148] is complex and will have an extraordinary impact upon psychology. In 2014 health insurance exchanges will be available in every state with all plans including the same package of essential health benefits, although they will vary by four different levels of "actuarial value," or percentage of costs that a plan pays on average. In upholding its constitutionality, the U.S. Supreme Court estimated that by 2019, 24 million Americans will obtain their health insurance through one of the newly authorized exchanges.
The State of Hawai'i was the first in the nation to declare its intent to establish a state-certified exchange and is well underway in implementing its vision, having received $61.8 million from the federal government this summer. The HHS grant will allow the state to meet several new milestones including multi-cultural community outreach, language access, customer relations management, and information technology training and operations. Governor Neil Abercrombie: "The successful establishment of the Hawai'i Health Connector is part of our New Day Plan in transforming healthcare in Hawai'i."
The Hawai'i Health Connector is an online health insurance exchange established by the state legislature as a non-profit organization in 2011. Its aim is provide an online marketplace that is Hawai'i-for-Hawai'i, effectively taking into account the state's unique culture and Prepaid Health Care Act, an employer health mandate in effect since 1974. The Connector has a 15 member board of directors. For psychology or any other health profession not to be involved in these policy deliberations would be, to invoke Katherine's inspirational charge: "If we're not at the table, it's because we're on the menu…." Energetic coalitions with like-minded colleagues, such as advanced practice nurses and clinical pharmacists, are absolutely critical to the future of our profession. We are making significant progress embracing the 21stcentury. In Orlando, Illinois Psychological Association President-elect Beth Rom-Rymer noted that her colleague Michael Ranney reports that the Ohio Psychological Association bill, which will mandate up to 6 prescribing psychologists in the Ohio State Prison System, is expected to pass in the 2013 State Legislature. Addressing society's pressing needs remains the key. Aloha,
Pat DeLeon, former APA President – Division31
September, 2012
