Minn. gov. seeks 'diversity' on health exchange board; Colorado exchange brings in mediator to smooth process

Also in the news, reports about costs in the Massachusetts health exchanges.

MinnPost: Health-Exchange Board 'Diversity' Is Top Of Priority For Dayton
For Gov. Mark Dayton and the commissioners and staff advising him, "diversity" has been the key word when discussing appointments to the board of MNsure, the state's new health insurance exchange. By the end of April, Dayton must name six members to the board, which will oversee an online marketplace where one in five Minnesotans are expected to find health insurance (Nord, 4/19).

Health Policy Solutions (a Colo. news service): Mediator To Triage Health Exchange Problems
Sparring between Colorado's Medicaid managers and those building the state's new health exchange prompted an outside analyst to recommend a "third party to triage and manage the project." A mediator from the New Jersey-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation now will come to Colorado to help managers get the giant multi-million dollar project off the ground on time by Oct. 1 when it's slated to open to consumers. Complicating tight launch deadlines is that Colorado lawmakers set up the state's new online health insurance marketplace as an independent public entity, not a state agency (Kerwin McCrimmon, 4/19).

Medpage Today: High Costs Seen In Mass. Health Exchange Plans
Between a third and a half of Massachusetts families suffered financial burden and higher-than-expected out-of-pocket costs when purchasing health coverage through the state's insurance exchange, a study found. Furthermore, the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) insurance subsidies won't help all those needing financial assistance when shopping for coverage in a similar exchange under the national law, according to the report published online Wednesday in Health Affairs (Pittman, 4/19).