NAIC members raise concerns about exchange waiver process

Meanwhile, the S.C. governor turns down federal funds for building her state's exchange.

Politico Pro: NAIC Wary Of Exchange Approval Process
The nation's insurance commissioners are raising concerns about how much flexibility states will have to tweak their exchanges once the new insurance markets are up and running. Under the first set of exchange rules, released in July, states that want to alter their exchange plans would have to get permission from HHS -; going through a 90-day federal process similar to the approval states must get from CMS to change their Medicaid or CHIP programs. It's a process that would surely aggravate Republican administrations planning to set up an exchange. On a Wednesday conference call, members of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners's exchange subgroup said they believed the Medicaid state waiver program may be too "burdensome" to use as a model for the exchange approval process (Millman, 8/31).

McClatchy / The State (Columbia, S.C.): S.C. Gov. Haley To Reject Federal Health Insurance Exchange Funds
Gov. Nikki Haley said she will let federal deadlines slip by and not accept millions in federal funds to help South Carolina set up its own health insurance exchange. … The exchanges are scheduled to open in 2014 when the health care law goes into full effect. If a state has not made progress by Jan. 1, 2013, the federal government will step in (Smith, 9/1).