government
HHS awards $760 million for health insurance exchanges
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 3, 2012
Eight states received more than $760 million in new grants to support the creation of health insurance exchanges starting in 2014.
The grants will fund the development of the technical systems that businesses and individuals will use to buy health plans through the new marketplaces, according to the Dept. of Health and Human Services. For instance, the exchanges will perform eligibility checks for tax credits and compare insurance coverage for beneficiaries.
The states receiving the grants are California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Nevada, New York and Vermont. Every state, with the exception of Alaska, has received some grants for the exchanges, even though the leaders of some states opposed to the national health system reform law have said they have no intention of launching them. An insurance exchange operated by the federal government will be made available to people in states that do not have exchanges for their residents by 2014.
“We continue to support states as they move forward building an exchange that works for them,” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in an Aug. 23 statement. “Thanks to the health care law, Americans will have more health insurance choices and the ability to compare insurance plans.”
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/09/03/gvbf0903.htm.
