Health Insurance and You!

The Supreme Court case pitting 26 states against the health reform law has received a lot of attention in recent weeks. But in the meantime, many of the same states have been making progress in building online health insurance exchanges, a key component of the 2010 overhaul. In fact, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Wednesday that 28 states and the District of Columbia have moved toward creating the exchanges, in spite of the legal challenges to the law and political opposition to it in many states.

According to an article by David Morgan of Reuters, 14 states have established their authority to set up exchanges, whether by a new law or one that previously existed, and 14 have taken steps to show that exchanges are useful. The health reform law set a deadline of January 1, 2013 for states to either move toward a state-based exchange or agree to participate in a national one, with the option of later establishing a state-based system. The exchanges must be up and running by the beginning of 2014. But given the uncertainties and Supreme Court hearings scheduled for this spring, some states have decided to wait and see what happens.

However, all states have made some changes since the law was passed. For example, writes Meghan McCarthy of the National Journal, 44 states have strengthened their review of increases to health insurance premiums. In addition, most states have accepted federal grants to help them plan for the exchanges, says Louise Radnofsky of the Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire blog. According to Julie Appleby of Kaiser Health News, those grants total more than $729 million in 49 states and D.C. (only Alaska has not sought funding). Some states, however, do not plan to use their grants and will return the money.