U.S. Extends Deadline for States on Health Insurance Exchanges
Published: November 15, 2012 - New York Times
WASHINGTON — For the second time in a week, the Obama
administration said on Thursday that it was extending the deadline for states to
decide whether they will establish and operate online markets where consumers
can shop for health insurance under the new health care law.
Friday was the original deadline. Now, the White House
says, states do not have to decide until the middle of next month.
The postponement came in response to a request from
the Republican Governors Association and its chairman, Gov. Bob McDonnell of
Virginia. Many Republicans had deferred action, hoping that Mitt Romney would
oust President Obama and work with Congress to repeal the health care law.
In a letter to the Republican governors on Thursday
night, Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said they
would have until Dec. 14 to decide whether they wanted to establish their own
health insurance exchanges. The federal government will create an exchange in
any state that is unable or unwilling to do so.
The White House had originally said that states must
submit applications to the federal government by Friday if they wanted to run
their own exchanges. On Nov. 9, the administration extended the deadline for
applications to Dec. 14, but said governors still had to submit gletters of
intenth by Friday.
Now the administration says that even the letter of
intent can be submitted as late as Dec. 14.
Ms. Sebelius will then have two weeks — until Jan. 1 —
to decide which states are capable of running their own exchanges. Starting in
October, people can enroll in health plans, for coverage starting Jan. 1, 2014,
when most Americans will be required to have health insurance.
Many Republican governors, meeting this week in Las
Vegas, complained that they lacked the information needed to decide on creation
of exchanges.
However, Gov. Dave Heineman of Nebraska, a Republican,
announced Thursday that his state would not establish an exchange.
A state-based exchange would not be controlled by the
state because policy decisions would be gtotally dictated and totally controlled
by the federal government,h Mr. Heineman said.
The governor said he was even more concerned about the
cost, $646 million from 2013 to 2020.