Health Insurance Exchange Becomes Federal Responsibility

Health insurance exchanges were originally meant to be set up by each individual state. However with many states resisting the creation of exchanges, the job has fallen to federal officials.

“We realize that not all states will be ready to establish these exchanges by 2014, so we are setting up a federally facilitated exchange in those states,” Michael Hash, the top federal insurance regulator, told the New York Times.

Governors of 13 states have sent letters to the federal administration saying they intend to set up exchanges. Health policy experts expect that the federal government will run exchanges in about half of the 50 states.

The implementation of the health insurance exchanges is navigating murky waters. Running the health insurance exchanges is a huge undertaking that federal officials did not expect to have any part of. The original responsibility was relegated to each state, however many have come out in opposition of the healthcare reform and are resisting creating the exchanges.

The health insurance exchanges will be marketplaces of sorts, designed to create a more organized and competitive market for buying health insurance, according to Kaiser Family Foundation. They are designed to serve primarily individuals buying insurance and small businesses.

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