State legislatures that fail to implement HIEs — marketplaces where individuals and small businesses will be able to buy health insurance — by the 2014 deadline will hand over the responsibility to the federal government. The government will then set up HIEs for the states.
Governors in 10 states have signed laws that establish an insurance exchange. Anne Gauthier, senior program director at the National Academy of State Health Policy, said she expected that more states would have passed legislation to implement HIEs by this point. She linked the legislative delay to the bipartisan nature of the health insurance exchange idea.
In 2013, HHS will evaluate each state’s progress and determine whether the federal government needs to step in with a federally run “fallback.” Some governors have not budged on the issue despite the risk of federal intervention. Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), who opposes the health reform law, has prevented state agencies from working on an exchange or applying for grant money to set one up.
Read the report by The Hill on health insurance exchanges.
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