States Stick to Insurance Exchange Models

Few states could claim Obamacare's first enrollment period was smooth—whatever the final numbers—but most will approach their insurance exchanges the same way for the 2015 window. None has asked the Obama administration to take over its marketplace or elected to abandon HealthCare.gov in favor of running its own.

For the 2014 enrollment period, 26 states and the District of Columbia opted to run their own marketplaces, while 17 states relied completely on HealthCare.gov, and the remaining seven resorted to partnerships intended as bridges to independent exchanges. States had until May 1 to declare if they wanted to switch models, and the CMS received none, an agency spokeswoman said.

The lack of response is surprising given that several states, particularly Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts and Oregon, were widely expected to ditch their own exchanges after severe technical problems impeded many consumers from signing up for coverage online. Meanwhile, many expected Iowa and Illinois to end their partnership arrangements and take full control of their exchanges.

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Source: Modern Healthcare