The deadline for states to decide on the route to take for their health
insurance marketplace has come and gone without any last minute decisions. As
NAHAM News reported last
week, states had to decide by Friday whether they wanted to set up their Health
Insurance Marketplace in partnership with the federal government, or if they
wanted to take no action and allow the federal government to set up the
marketplace without state input. According to Kaiser Health News, half the states— including the major
population centers of Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania, opted to do nothing, and
defaulted to the Federal option.
Alternatively, seventeen states and
the District of Columbia have been given “conditional approval” by the
Administration to set up their own marketplaces, without help from the federal
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). These states include California,
Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island,
Utah, Vermont, and Washington.
An additional seven states have opted
for a partnership exchange. Under this marketplace type, states would approve
which insurance plans could participate in the marketplace, and handle consumer
assistance duties such as setting up call centers to handle inquiries. The
federal government would handle the more complex duties of running the website,
marketing the site, and determining the eligibility of millions
of people for government subsidies which will make prices more affordable. HHS
and the Administration had hoped that sharing the responsibility through this
type of marketplace would entice more states to take some form of an active
role in the program. Partnership states include Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois,
Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, and South Dakota.
The remaining twenty five states
defaulted to a federally run marketplace, disappointing Administration
officials who had hoped for more state involvement. The states that opted for a
federal program cited concerns about cost, lack of autonomy, or political
opposition to the healthcare law.
You can view state by state marketplace
statuses on the Kaiser Family Foundation website
here.
No comments:
Post a Comment