FirstCare at the White House

On Monday, September 12, 2016, FirstCare President and CEO firstcare-president-and-ceo-darnell-denttraveled to Washington D.C., to participate in a meeting at the White House, on behalf of FirstCare and the Texas Association of Community-based Health Plans (TACHP), at the President’s request and hosted by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell, along with 11 other insurance industry CEOs from across the country. The purpose of the meeting was for the administration to address constructive solutions and strategies with insurers who’ve committed to remain in the Health Insurance Marketplace.

President Obama joined the meeting in-person and participated in the discussion, imparting to the attendees that the federal government is interested in partnering with the health insurers to address fixes within the Marketplace and promoting best practices from insurers who have been Marketplace participants, thus ensuring the program continues for Americans after his term in office ends in 2017.

This was Darnell’s first trip to the White House. “I was privileged to meet the President, who thanked me personally for attending,” he said.

Throughout the meeting, Darnell—the sole representative from a provider-sponsored plan and Texas-based plan—gave a voice to the provider-sponsored plans in the Marketplace. He spoke about our efforts in customer engagement and outreach, care coordination, the risk pool and the impact of Marketplace Special Enrollment Periods (SEPs).

The opportunity to address these and other concerns directly to Secretary Burwell, Acting Secretary Andy Slavitt (CMS), Marketplace CEO Kevin Counihan, and President Obama allowed the attendees to share their solutions and ideas to help keep the Marketplace a viable option for Americans. Darnell was encouraged by the topics discussed in the session stating, “The open dialogue fostered a free-flow of ideas and supported the strong sense of cooperation this administration has towards the health insurers committed to participating in the Marketplace in 2017.”

For further details on the meeting, check out the articles posted in USA Today, The Washington Post, CNBC, The New York Times and Modern Healthcare.