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Governor John P. de Jongh, Jr. said Tuesday that the Virgin Islands has applied for a one million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to explore the option of establishing an American Health Benefit Exchange in the Virgin Islands. If the territory determines that an exchange is feasible, the exchange could make affordable health insurance plans available to a portion of the Virgin Islands’ estimated 33,000 uninsured residents.
“The Virgin Islands struggles with a health care system that is not able to meet all our residents’ needs. Approximately 29% of Virgin Islanders have no health insurance, and my Administration is keenly aware of the challenges this group faces. My Administration supports the innovative tools provided in the Affordable Care Act to cover the uninsured, and to move the Virgin Islands toward parity with U.S. States in health care policy,” deJongh said today.
Under the Affordable Care Act, a federal health reform law enacted in 2010, territories may choose to establish an Exchange. The exchange is a marketplace for insurance companies to offer “qualified health plans” including a set of benefits determined by the federal government. Territories and states establishing an exchange must provide assistance with premiums and other cost-sharing (such as co-payments and deductibles) to low-income individuals. The federal law also includes a “Small Business Health Options Program” designed to help small businesses sponsor health insurance for their employees on the exchange. The exchange would begin operating in January 2014.
DeJongh said that the federal government is providing grants for states and territories to plan an exchange and the Virgin Islands has sought $1 million in federal funding. The government intends to use the funds to examine whether an exchange in the Virgin Islands is feasible from budgetary and health care policy perspectives. “The decision is more complicated for territories than for states, because federal law provides some funding advantages to states in setting up an exchange that are not provided to territories. For example, the Virgin Islands would receive an estimated $30 million over a five-year period in federal funding to provide exchange subsidies for low-income persons, whereas states will receive federal support that is not capped.
In June of 2010, the governor established the Healthcare Reform Implementation Task Force in the Virgin Islands. Under the leadership of Lieutenant Governor Gregory R. Francis, the Task Force has been examining how to implement the federal law in the Virgin Islands. “The task force, under my direction, will take a thorough look at whether an exchange is feasible, and if so, how we can design it to provide the most help to individuals and small businesses in the Virgin Islands,” Lieutenant Governor Francis said. “The territory intends to use the federal health reform effort to strive toward the goal of making affordable health care available to every Virgin Islander.”
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