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Thursdsay, September 2, 2010

$1 Million in Federal Funding to Help Government of Puerto Rico Monitor Health Insurance Premiums on the Island

San Juan, Puerto Rico- The Department of Health and Human Services today informed Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi that Puerto Rico is eligible to receive $1 million in federal funds this year to help it establish a process to monitor health insurance premiums offered by insurers on the Island, in order to protect consumers from excessive or unjustified premium increases.

This funding, known as the Grants to States for Health Insurance Premium Review program, was authorized by the Affordable Care Act, enacted in March.

The purpose of this grant program is to assist states and territories in reviewing health insurance premiums, establishing data centers that will compile and publish premium information, and providing information to HHS on premium increase patterns.

“Puerto Rico is eligible for this allocation of federal funding as a result of the efforts that we made at the Department of Health and Human Service following passage of the Affordable Care Act. The HHS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, recently confirmed that Puerto Rico and the other U.S. territories will benefit from the consumer protections established in the Act,” said the Resident Commissioner.

The Government of Puerto Rico must submit its application for these funds by October 1, 2010. This grant will be the first in a series of federal grants to Puerto Rico for the purpose of premium monitoring. The Affordable Care Act provides for a five-year program of grants to states and territories, with grants to be awarded on an annual basis.

“We are receiving the tools we need to successfully implement health care reform and we intend to utilize these tools wisely in order to offer more—and better—health services to our people,” said Pierluisi.

Under the Affordable Care Act, federal funding for Puerto Rico’s Medicaid program, soon to be known as Mi Salud, will triple over the next decade. Puerto Rico will receive $8.6 billion in federal Medicaid funds between the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011 and the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2019. Without this law, Puerto Rico would have received only $3.1 billion. In addition, Puerto Rico will have flexibility to determine how best to use these funds in order to achieve the overarching objectives of the Mi Salud program.

The Affordable Care Act also authorizes Puerto Rico to establish a health insurance exchange beginning in 2014 and provides the Island with $925 million in federal funds to help eligible individuals afford coverage through this federally-regulated marketplace of insurance plans.