One of the requirements set forth in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is that every state needs to make their own health insurance exchange. States that choose not to will have one set up for them by the federal government. In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie vetoed a bill that would have set up an online marketplace for health insurance.
In 2010, the Affordable Care Act required all states to create a health insurance exchange. The exchange is designed to be a place where individuals and small businesses can go in order to find an affordable health insurance plan. It will have a system set up that will allow people to easily compare one plan against another, to see which will give them the best value for the money. It is expected that the exchanges will encourage competition between insurers and will drive down the costs for consumers.
States are required to set up their exchanges by 2014. Many have started working on them. The advantage of doing this is so that the state can tailor it to best meet the needs of their citizens.
Mississippi is working on setting up an exchange, despite being among the states who are involved in the court case against the ACA. The Alabama Congress has voted to set up an exchange, but, Governor Robert Bentley has promised to veto any bill that is about setting up an insurance exchange for Alabama.
In New Jersey, a similar thing is happening. Governor Chris Christie has vetoed a bill that would have created an online marketplace for residents and small businesses in New Jersery to use in order to buy health insurance. Governor Christie said that this bill was “premature” and that it could impose “unnecessary obligations upon the state’s citizens”.
In short, Governor Christie is among the people who feel it would be a good idea to wait until the Supreme Court makes its ruling regarding certain aspects of the Affordable Care Act. The implication is that Governor Christie is hoping that that Supreme Court will declare the entire ACA unconstitutional, so that he won’t have to set up a state insurance exchange.
If the Supreme Court doesn’t kill the ACA, it could mean problems for New Jersey. States who have not made any progress on creating their own health insurance exchange by January of 2013 will have the federal government step in to make one for them. When this happens, those states will lose the ability to oversee their exchange.
Image by Bob Jagendorf on Flickr