A total of 20 states have had their plans for a health insurance exchange approved by the Department of Health and Human Services. The state of Mississippi has had their application put on hold, until the state’s Governor and Insurance Commissioner managed to agree about the type of exchange Mississippi will have.
The Affordable Care Act requires all states to have a functioning health insurance exchange that is ready to go by January 1, 2014. A total of 20 states have gained approval. (or conditional approval) for their plans for an exchange.
The majority of them selected a state-based health insurance exchange. A couple chose a state-federal partnership exchange. The third option would be to have an exchange that is run by the federal government. Several states have selected this option.
Mississippi has been faced with some challenges regarding its exchange that most other states have not had to deal with. The Governor, and the Insurance Commissioner, have been bickering about which type of exchange would be best for Mississippi.
The Mississippi Insurance Commissioner, Mike Chaney (who is a Republican) wrote a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services in November of 2012. The letter declared that Mississippi was intending to run a state-based health insurance exchange.
Two weeks later, Governor Phil Bryant (who is also a Republican) sent another letter to the Department of Health and Human Services. The letter indicated that Governor Bryant did not want Mississippi to have a state-based health insurance exchange. It said:
It is inevitable that such an exchange will be controlled by the federal government, not by the state.
A month later, Governor Bryant sent another letter to the Department of Health and Human Services. This one stated that the letter sent by Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney was not valid, and that only the Governor would have the final say about what type of exchange their state would have.
Today, January 15, 2013, WDAM 7 reports an update. The Attorney General of Mississippi, Jim Hood, (who is a Democrat) has joined in. He has backed Insurance Commissioner Chaney’s stance that he (the Insurance Commissioner) has the authority to establish and manage a health insurance exchange.
This would appear to mean that Mississippi can now go ahead and set up a state-based exchange. At the time I am writing this blog, Kaiser Family Foundation has identified Mississippi’s application for an exchange to be in review.
Image by Ken Lund on Flickr