The State Exchange Project held the second in a series of four informational webinars. “Health Reform in Your Backyard— State Exchange Update: What State Advocates Need to Know,” on Tuesday, May 15, 2012, with more than 60 advocates participating. It provided an overview of health insurance exchanges (the state-based marketplaces that will offer new coverage options starting in 2014), how exchanges are expected to fit in with other market reforms and coverage expansions under the Affordable Care Act, and information on where states must meet federal requirements and where they have flexibility in designing and implementing their exchange. The webinar also highlighted current state efforts and discussed ways advocates can get involved in their state. JoAnn Volk, research professor at Georgetown’s Health Policy Institute, served as the presenter. Recorded copies of this webinar and accompanying handouts are available for download on NHF’s Web site: www.hemophilia.org.
The American Plasma Users Coalition (A-PLUS) is a coalition of national patient advocacy organizations, including the National Hemophilia Foundation, created to represent the unique needs of more than 170,000 patients with rare diseases who use life-saving plasma protein therapies. The coalition launched the State Exchange Project to educate state-based community advocates about the health reform implementation process and equip them to help shape it. The program is targeted to chapter staff and other key community advocates.
Special thanks to our lead sponsors, CSL Behring and Pfizer, and to supporting sponsors Baxter, Bayer, Novo Nordisk, Grifols and Accredo.
