The NJ Spotlight Roundtable Series: Next Steps for New Jersey's Health Insurance Exchange

The Affordable Care Act holds the possibility of transforming healthcare in New Jersey -- ultimately insuring 500,000 New Jerseyans who are currently without coverage.

But it's not going to happen automatically -- far from it.

The first step is creating a health insurance exchange, which will allows individuals and small businesses to buy coverage online. This may take some doing, since Gov. Chris Christie has already vetoed a bill establishing the first New Jersey health insurance exchange.

That leaves everything to be determined: The best purchasing model for New Jersey's pioneering health exchange; how the governing board should be populated; how the exchange should be funded, both as a start up and ongoing; and more ...

Moderator: Lee Keough, Managing Editor, NJ Spotlight

Panelists: Sen. Joseph F. Vitale, Health and Human Services Committee; Joel C. Cantor, director, Center for State Health Policy, professor of public policy, Rutgers University; Jeff Brown, Coordinator of Policy Advocacy & Communications, Citizen Action; Neil Eicher, Deputy Director, Policy, New Jersey Hospital Association (NJHA); Ward Sanders, President, New Jersey Association of Health Plans

»Chapter 1: Opening Remarks

What's at stake with New Jersey's health insurance exchange? By 2014 the state's uninsured rate will drop 40 percent, adding coverage for some 440,000 people. The biggest change will be in the non-group health insurance market which is likely to see an increase of 360,000 enrollees. How will New Jersey's health insurance exchange help cope with this increase?

»Chapter 2: Panel Discussion