• The Department of Insurance received a federal Exchange Planning grant of $1 million in 2010. The state has since received multiple federal grants.

• The Department of Health received an Early Innovator grant of $27.4 million to develop an exchange information technology infrastructure that could be replicated by other states, in 2011. The Department has also received three federal Level One Establishment grants: $10.7 million, $48.5 million, and $95 million to fund IT systems, expand consumer assistance, redesign the state’s eligibility and enrollment system, and create an all payer database, hire Exchange executive leadership and staff, develop back-end customer support functions, and conduct consumer outreach and program integration.

• Funding for the information technology gap analysis for the state and numerous reports including the coordination of Medicaid and the exchange and passive and active purchasing came from the New York Health Foundation.

• New York, along with nine other states, is receiving technical assistance from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through the State Health Reform Assistance Network; this assistance includes help with setting up health insurance exchanges, expanding Medicaid to newly eligible populations, streamlining eligibility and enrollment systems, instituting insurance market reforms and using data to drive decisions.

Additional Information:

• Governor Cuomo signed an executive order establishing a state-based exchange when legislation to do so did not pass. The order creates regional advisory boards to govern to exchange, which will operate within the Department of Health and collaborate with the Department of Financial Services and other agencies.

• The state will use new information from stakeholders and existing infrastructure, like call centers, to develop an outreach plan for the exchange.

For More Information:

• http://healthbenefitexchange.ny.gov/