There is a very important deadline coming up. States have until November 16, 2012, to submit proposals that show how they intend to operate their health insurance exchanges. The exchanges are expected to be ready to go in 2014.
Part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, (or ACA, or “Obamacare”), requires each state to create its own health insurance exchange. These exchanges are supposed to make it possible for Americans to find affordable health insurance plans.
People who are uninsured can use the exchanges to find a health plan. People who already have health insurance can use the exchanges to easily compare different health plans. In 2014, all Americans will be expected to purchase health insurance if they do not already have coverage. The exchanges are intended to help people to do that.
According to Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, 34 states and the District of Columbia have accepted federal grant money to help them establish their state’s health insurance exchange. Some of the states that have accepted grant money are among the ones who are taking part in the lawsuit that asks for the ACA to be overturned.
I’ve been trying to follow this story. So far, I know that California is very close to getting their exchange going. Mississippi has started building their state’s insurance exchange, despite being one of the states that wants to see the ACA overturned.
In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie vetoed a bill that was passed by the New Jersey House of Representatives and the New Jersey Senate. Governor Christie does not want New Jersey to create a state health insurance exchange. In Alabama, Governor Robert Bentley has promised to veto any bill that is about setting up an exchange. Texas Governor Rick Perry has been refusing, since July of 2011, to allow Texas to set up an exchange.
All states are required to release a detailed blueprint of how their health insurance exchanges will operate to the Department of Health and Human Services by November 16, 2011. They have to show how they will meet the legal and operational requirements involved with the exchanges. The states need to win federal approval of their plan, (either in part, or the entire thing), by January 1, 2014.
There are guidelines in place to help states that are unable to offer the full insurance exchange service by 2014. There are also guidelines for how the federal government will set up a health insurance exchange in states that are refusing to create one of their own. The deadline has been set. Now, the states must either meet the deadline, or allow the federal government to create an exchange for them. No state will be allowed to opt-out of this.
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