States Move Forward with Public Option Programs, but Differ in How They Select Insurance Carriers

By Christine Monahan and Madeline O’Brien

Washington, Colorado, and Nevada are partnering with private health insurance carriers to offer new “public option” plans that face heightened requirements designed to advance important state goals—like increasing affordability—while competing against traditional private plans. One important design question these states have faced is how many and which carriers should issue public option plans.

In a post for the Commonwealth Fund’s To the Point blog, CHIR’s Christine Monahan and Madeline O’Brien compare Washington’s self-described “selective procurement” approach with Colorado’s requirement that all carriers offer public option plans, and observe how Nevada still has time to decide whether to take all-comers or be more selective. You can read the full post here.