Examiner.com reports the House Energy and Commerce Committeewill vote today on the recommendation of its subcommittee toprevent the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) fromcontinuing to grant money to states to work on their own healthexchanges.

The subcommittee recently approved a group of bills, one ofwhich involved the defunding of the establishment andimplementation of state-run health insurance exchanges.

The exchanges, considered an important part of the AffordableCare Act of 2010 (ACA), have generated different reactions from individual states, which areresponsible for setting them up. Though many states havemoved forward to implement the exchanges, others have delayedimplementation.

Mississippi, for example, has delayed setting up an exchange dueto a lack of agreement on who would be responsible for being on theexchange’s board. Oklahoma’s legislature is refusing to consider abill to create a state-based exchange, while Arkansas has alsochosen not to act on implementing an exchange until it becomes moreclear how the federal funds will be distributed and what therestrictions attached to those funds will be.

Topping all of this are lawsuits challenging the ACA’sconstitutionality. The U.S. Supreme Court will likely heararguments on this topic during spring 2012.

To tort – or not to tort

In a related story, the House Energy and Commerce HealthSubcommittee has announced a hearing to take place on April 6 thatwill discuss “The Cost of the Medical Liability System Proposalsfor Reform, Including H.R.5, the Help Efficient, Accessible,Low-Cost, Timely Healthcare Act of 2011.”

The hearing will focus on medical liability in the U.S., and howit is one of the root problems of the nation’s high health carecosts. The subcommittee will examine the current medical liabilitysystem and discuss reform options to help lower the cost of healthcare.