Health insurance exchange administrator announces HHS exit

Joel Ario, the Health and Human Services official who has been responsible for the development of the health law's insurance exchanges, is leaving his job.  

CQ HealthBeat: Exchange Administrator Ario To Leave HHS
Joel Ario, the Department of Health and Human Services official who has been overseeing the rollout of the health insurance exchanges, is leaving the agency. HHS on July 11 released 347 pages of proposed regulations governing the creation of the state exchanges, which are key in implementing the health care law. Under the law, exchanges must be up and running in every state by 2014 (Norman, 8/1). 

Politico Pro: Ario's Exit Rattles State Lawmakers
Some of those working on building state health insurance exchanges are alarmed as news spreads that Joel Ario will be unexpectedly stepping down as director of the Office of Health Insurance Exchanges. "We thought we had the right person to work with, and now we feel like we're starting all over again," said Alabama state Rep. Greg Wren, who is on the board of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators and co-chairman of the Health Reform Implementation Task Force of the National Conference of State Legislators. Wren, a Republican, was the sponsor of unsuccessful exchange legislation in the last legislative session (Feder, 8/1). 

Meanwhile, the details regarding health exchanges continue to draw attention -

Politico: For Health Insurance Exchanges, Devil's In The Details
For some of the states that managed to pass exchange bills this year, the fight over implementing health reform is far from over. ... patient advocates are worried about the insurance industry influencing governance boards overseeing the health exchanges. That's because the governance boards could be tapped to handle a lot of the heavy lifting on key policy questions, such as which health plans can sell on the exchanges and how to finance the online insurance marketplace and prevent conflicts of interest. Exchange governance boards will be busy between now and January 2013, when Health and Human Services must determine whether a state's exchange passes muster (Millman, 8/1). 

Related, earlier KHN story: A Guide To Health Insurance Exchanges (Appleby, 7/10)