PART 2—CONSUMER CHOICES AND INSUR-
ANCE COMPETITION THROUGH HEALTH
BENEFIT EXCHANGES
SEC. 1311 ø42 U.S.C. 13031¿. AFFORDABLE CHOICES OF HEALTH BEN-
EFIT PLANS.
(a) ASSISTANCETOSTATES TOESTABLISHAMERICANHEALTH
BENEFITEXCHANGES.—
(1) PLANNINGANDESTABLISHMENT GRANTS.—There shall
be appropriated to the Secretary, out of any moneys in the
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, an amount necessary to
enable the Secretary to make awards, not later than 1 year
after the date of enactment of this Act, to States in the amount
specified in paragraph (2) for the uses described in paragraph
(3).
(2) AMOUNTSPECIFIED.—For each fiscal year, the Secretary
shall determine the total amount that the Secretary will make
available to each State for grants under this subsection.
(3) USEOFFUNDS.—A State shall use amounts awarded
under this subsection for activities (including planning activi-
ties) related to establishing an American Health Benefit Ex-
change, as described in subsection (b).
(4) RENEWABILITYOFGRANT.—
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70
Sec. 1311 PPACA (Consolidated)
(A) INGENERAL.—Subject to subsection (d)(4), the Sec-
retary may renew a grant awarded under paragraph (1) if
the State recipient of such grant—
(i) is making progress, as determined by the Sec-
retary, toward—
(I) establishing an Exchange; and
(II) implementing the reforms described in
subtitles A and C (and the amendments made by
such subtitles); and
(ii) is meeting such other benchmarks as the Sec-
retary may establish.
(B) LIMITATION.—No grant shall be awarded under
this subsection after January 1, 2015.
(5) TECHNICALASSISTANCETOFACILITATEPARTICIPATIONIN
SHOP EXCHANGES.—The Secretary shall provide technical as-
sistance to States to facilitate the participation of qualified
small businesses in such States in SHOP Exchanges.
(b) AMERICANHEALTHBENEFITEXCHANGES.—
(1) INGENERAL.—Each State shall, not later than January
1, 2014, establish an American Health Benefit Exchange (re-
ferred to in this title as an ‘‘Exchange’’) for the State that—
(A) facilitates the purchase of qualified health plans;
(B) provides for the establishment of a Small Business
Health Options Program (in this title referred to as a
‘‘SHOP Exchange’’) that is designed to assist qualified em-
ployers in the State who are small employers in facili-
tating the enrollment of their employees in qualified
health plans offered in the small group market in the
State; and
(C) meets the requirements of subsection (d).
(2) MERGEROFINDIVIDUALANDSHOPEXCHANGES.—A State
may elect to provide only one Exchange in the State for pro-
viding both Exchange and SHOP Exchange services to both
qualified individuals and qualified small employers, but only if
the Exchange has adequate resources to assist such individuals
and employers.
(c) RESPONSIBILITIESOFTHESECRETARY.—
(1) INGENERAL.—The Secretary shall, by regulation, estab-
lish criteria for the certification of health plans as qualified
health plans. Such criteria shall require that, to be certified,
a plan shall, at a minimum—
(A) meet marketing requirements, and not employ
marketing practices or benefit designs that have the effect
of discouraging the enrollment in such plan by individuals
with significant health needs;
(B) ensure a sufficient choice of providers (in a manner
consistent with applicable network adequacy provisions
under section 2702(c) of the Public Health Service Act),
and provide information to enrollees and prospective en-
rollees on the availability of in-network and out-of-network
providers;
(C) include within health insurance plan networks
those essential community providers, where available, that
serve predominately low-income, medically-underserved in-
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71 Sec. 1311
PPACA (Consolidated)
dividuals, such as health care providers defined in section
340B(a)(4) of the Public Health Service Act and providers
described in section 1927(c)(1)(D)(i)(IV) of the Social Secu-
rity Act as set forth by section 221 of Public Law 111–8,
except that nothing in this subparagraph shall be con-
strued to require any health plan to provide coverage for
any specific medical procedure;
(D)(i) be accredited with respect to local performance
on clinical quality measures such as the Healthcare Effec-
tiveness Data and Information Set, patient experience rat-
ings on a standardized Consumer Assessment of
Healthcare Providers and Systems survey, as well as con-
sumer access, utilization management, quality assurance,
provider credentialing, complaints and appeals, network
adequacy and access, and patient information programs by
any entity recognized by the Secretary for the accredita-
tion of health insurance issuers or plans (so long as any
such entity has transparent and rigorous methodological
and scoring criteria); or
(ii) receive such accreditation within a period estab-
lished by an Exchange for such accreditation that is appli-
cable to all qualified health plans;
(E) implement a quality improvement strategy de-
scribed in subsection (g)(1);
(F) utilize a uniform enrollment form that qualified in-
dividuals and qualified employers may use (either elec-
tronically or on paper) in enrolling in qualified health
plans offered through such Exchange, and that takes into
account criteria that the National Association of Insurance
Commissioners develops and submits to the Secretary;
(G) utilize the standard format established for pre-
senting health benefits plan options;
(H) provide information to enrollees and prospective
enrollees, and to each Exchange in which the plan is of-
fered, on any quality measures for health plan perform-
ance endorsed under section 399JJ of the Public Health
Service Act, as applicable; and
(I) report to the Secretary at least annually and in
such manner as the Secretary shall require, pediatric qual-
ity reporting measures consistent with the pediatric qual-
ity reporting measures established under section 1139A of
the Social Security Act. øAs added by section 10203(a)¿
(2) RULEOFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in paragraph (1)(C)
shall be construed to require a qualified health plan to contract
with a provider described in such paragraph if such provider
refuses to accept the generally applicable payment rates of
such plan.
(3) RATINGSYSTEM.—The Secretary shall develop a rating
system that would rate qualified health plans offered through
an Exchange in each benefits level on the basis of the relative
quality and price. The Exchange shall include the quality rat-
ing in the information provided to individuals and employers
through the Internet portal established under paragraph (4).