Health exchange deadlines, other implementation issues come into focus

Some discussion surrounds whether the deadlines will be pushed back.  

Kaiser Health News: Health Law Deadlines Under Pressure
With Thursday's Supreme Court ruling upholding the health law, debate has shifted to whether deadlines key to the law's goal of expanding coverage to tens of millions of Americans will be pushed back. Some say states and the federal government are facing such complex technical and political realities that there will be a need to push back some deadlines, including the Jan. 1, 2014, opening of new online marketplaces where individuals and small business will shop for coverage. And there may be pressure in Congress to delay some spending on the health law in order to help reduce the federal budget deficit (Appleby, Werber Serafini and Carey, 6/30). 

San Francisco Chronicle: Health Care Exchange Will Offer Policies
As California moves ahead to put the federal health care law in place, front and center is the creation of what is known as the exchange, a virtual marketplace where individuals and small businesses will be able to purchase insurance. … While other states balked, California became the first in the country to begin creating its exchange in 2010, shortly after President Obama signed the health law. It now has a five-member board and 36 employees. Next month it will start deciding many of the key details (Colliver, 6/29).

The Dallas Morning News: Texans May Face Federal Insurance Exchanges
Texans may soon be buying health insurance the way they buy electricity -- in a marketplace where consumers can shop for policies with the same "apples to apples" comparisons they use to weigh electricity rates. Last week's Supreme Court decision upholding President Barack Obama's health care overhaul clears the way for such markets in all 50 states, despite opposition from Gov. Rick Perry and other Republican governors who were hoping the law would be dumped by the court. … But there's not much time left if Texas wants to design its own exchange rather than accept the Obama administration's approach. And that worries insurers, benefit analysts and even some conservative health economists (Landers, 6/30).