HARTFORD Kevin Counihan, an architect of the online insurance exchange that was key to expanding health care coverage in Massachusetts, found himself playing a familiar role this week briefing state officials on how to create a new health insurance marketplace. <\/p>\n
Were going to get it done, Counihan promised the nodding bureaucrats. He ticked off plans to tap federal grants, hire administrators, and make people aware of coverage choices. <\/p>\n
But he wasnt outlining his strategy on Beacon Hill. Counihan was addressing the Governors Health Care Cabinet in Connecticut, which like many states is scrambling to build from scratch the insurance apparatus called for in President Obamas new health care law. <\/p>\n
Nowhere is there more experienced talent for the job than in Massachusetts, which developed the nations first and only universal health coverage system six years ago. That means there is a gold rush on to hire people who helped implement the Massachusetts plan. <\/p>\n
Counihan, who consulted on insurance exchanges for 40 states before accepting a post as chief executive of Connecticuts Health Insurance Exchange, is among more than a dozen former Massachusetts health officials cashing in on the need for their expertise. In one way or another, all were pioneers of the expanded coverage at the heart of the health care overhaul championed by former governor Mitt Romney. <\/p>\n
Under the US health care law upheld by the Supreme Court, states are required to establish insurance exchanges places where people, especially those now without health insurance, can shop for and buy coverage. In Massachusetts, its called the Health Connector. <\/p>\n
The fingerprints of the Massachusetts Connector are clearly visible in the work going on everywhere, said Jon Kingsdale, former executive director of the Connector Authority. Kingsdale has worked with 15 states in the past two years as managing partner in the Boston office of Florida-based Wakely Consulting Group. This week, he flew to Oregon to talk with representatives of 10 states about their exchanges. <\/p>\n
The Connector, established under Massachusetts landmark 2006 law to develop a one-stop shopping website for subsidized and unsubsidized health insurance, has become a seedbed for similar efforts now taking shape across the nation, Kingsdale said. The program has helped reduce the ranks of the uninsured to about 2 percent in Massachusetts. <\/p>\n
Other former Massachusetts health officials also find themselves in demand. Some were employed under Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee who opposes the federal law. Others worked for his Democratic successor, Deval Patrick. A few straddled both administrations. <\/p>\n
While they are keenly aware of the tensions surrounding health exchanges in some states, the former Bay State officials take pains to avoid identifying themselves by political party. They say their primary role is to help get national health care up and running. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Mass. health architects in demand<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" HARTFORD Kevin Counihan, an architect of the online insurance exchange that was key to expanding health care coverage in Massachusetts, found himself playing a familiar role this week briefing state officials on how to create a new health insurance marketplace. Were going to get it done, Counihan promised the nodding bureaucrats. He ticked off plans to tap federal grants, hire administrators, and make people aware of coverage choices. Continue reading