Insurers face key health exchange deadline

Modern Healthcare reports that May 1 is the deadline for insurers to apply to offer heatlh plans for sale on state-run exchanges. However, the deadline for participation in states that have opted for federally run exchanges has been extended until Friday.

Modern Healthcare: Deadline For State-Run Exchanges Is Today
Today is the deadline for insurers to apply to offer qualified health plans in state-run exchanges, and the submissions will signal the vigor of competition as the marketplaces begin enrolling members in October. Late Monday, the CMS said it would extend the deadline for insurers in states with federally run exchanges to submit qualified health plans from today to Friday. Large carriers have indicated that they will be conservative in choosing where to join the fray. During a conference call Tuesday to discuss first-quarter earnings, Aetna president and CEO Mark Bertolini said the carrier plans on selling insurance in 14 exchanges (Block, 4/30).

In Minnesota and New Mexico -

The Associated Press: Gov. Dayton Names Directors Of Health Insurance Site
Gov. Mark Dayton on Tuesday appointed six people with a wide range of health care experience to serve on the board of directors for the Minnesota's health care exchange, the online marketplace where the uninsured and other residents will be able to shop for coverage under the federal health care overhaul (Condon, 4/30).

MinnPost: MNSure Board Members Ready To Shape State's New Health Exchange
Gov. Mark Dayton on Tuesday appointed the governing board of Minnesota's health insurance exchange, one of the final steps in getting the new MNsure agency on its feet. The exchange, authorized in late March by the Legislature, is an autonomous agency that will manage health coverage for roughly 1.3 million Minnesotans under the federal Affordable Care Act (Nord, 4/30).

Albuquerque Business First: Expert Warns Board That Launching Insurance Exchange May Take Until 2015
It will be nearly impossible for New Mexico to set up a full-blown health insurance exchange by Oct. 1 as required by federal law, the New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange board was told Monday. Instead, the board should look at getting the full exchange operational by January 2015 and should concentrate on outreach and educational programs for the uninsured, the board was told (Domrzalski, 4/30).