HHS conditionally approved seven state health insurance exchange plans Thursday, bringing the total number to 17, plus the District of Columbia. HHS granted approvals to every state that submitted a plan by the mid-December deadline except Mississippi; that state’s governor and insurance commissioner disagree on how to proceed. While no more states will be able to run their own online insurance marketplaces in 2014, HHS is continuing to encourage states to team up with the federal government to run some parts of their exchanges. To that end, HHS also released regulatory guidance on how the partnership exchanges would function. A number of Republican governors have vowed not to cooperate with the department. If they hold their ground, their states will default to exchanges run by the federal government.
07
Jan 2013
