Obama administration announces Nov. 16 deadline for state proposals on health exchanges

The Department for Health and Human Services released guidelines detailing the requirements states must meet in their proposals if they want to gain federal approval to operate these insurance markets.

The Wall Street Journal: Bid To Coax States On Health Exchanges
The Obama administration on Wednesday made a fresh bid to coax reluctant governors to work with the federal government to help enact the health-overhaul law. The move centers on new marketplaces that sell health insurance, a key plank of the law that states are supposed to open by 2014. Republican governors, who lead 29 of the 50 states, are divided over whether to set up the exchanges, which would allow consumers to shop for insurance plans if they don't receive affordable coverage through an employer (Radnofsky, 5/16).

Reuters: U.S. Sets Deadline For Proposals On State Healthcare Exchanges
The Obama administration forged ahead with healthcare reforms on Wednesday, announcing a November 16 deadline for state governments to submit proposals showing how they intend to operate health insurance exchanges in 2014. The Department for Health and Human Services released a detailed blueprint of the legal and operational requirements states must meet in their proposals if they expect to win federal approval to begin operating regulated insurance markets, in whole or in part, by January 1, 2014, when the 2010 law is scheduled to come into full force (5/16).

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: States Must Submit Plans For Insurance Marketplaces By Nov. 16
States must provide details to the federal government by Nov. 16 – just 10 days after the presidential election – on how they will run online insurance marketplaces, according to guidance released Wednesday (Appleby, 5/16).

CQ HealthBeat: HHS Seeks To Re-Energize Exchange Creation Via New Grants, Guidance
Six states will get grants totaling $181 million to help them establish health insurance exchanges under the health care law, Health and Human Services officials announced Wednesday. That makes 34 states and the District of Columbia that have received such federal assistance. Officials also released a guidance document detailing how they will work with states to establish a "federally facilitated exchange" (FFE) for those that elect not to create their own such marketplace (Reichard, 5/16).

Modern Healthcare: Insurance Exchanges Could Mean Savings For Some, Researcher Says
People who purchase health insurance policies on the individual market may save an average of $280 annually under the healthcare overhaul's coming insurance exchanges, according to projections by a federal researcher. Steven Hill, a senior economist in the Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, analyzed costs for the 11 million beneficiaries in the individual insurance market in recent years and projected their future costs under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Daly, 5/16).