Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), health insurance exchanges are to be set up to provide affordable health coverage to individuals and small businesses. Each state was given the option to either develop a state-based exchange using federal grants, create a partnership exchange in which the state and federal governments each handle specific tasks, or to decline and fall under the federal exchange.
States are required to communicate their intentions by December 14, 2012. As of December 12, 19 states have declared their intentions to create state-based exchanges, six states are planning for partnership exchanges, 21 states will fall under the federal exchange, and five states are undecided, according to the Kaiser Health Foundations statehealthfacts.org.
Both Oklahoma and Texas have declined to create state-based health exchanges. Therefore, Oklahoma and Texas will fall under the federal government’s health insurance exchange.
Next Steps:
In March 2013, employers will be required to provide employees with information regarding the health exchanges. This deadline is expected to be extended as the government works through the details of the plans.
In January 2014, state, partnership, and federal health insurance exchanges are expected to be operational. Blueprints of these plans are currently being reviewed by government agencies.
No action is needed by Nextep clients at this time.
Nextep will continue to monitor the situation closely and relay information as it is released by various governing agencies. For more information on health insurance exchanges, including a summary of each state’s decision, please visit the Kaiser Foundations statehealthfacts.org.
