Three more states are on track to run their own health care exchanges as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The Health and Human Services Department said Thursday it issued the first conditional approval of a state partnership exchange in Delaware, and conditional approval to Minnesota and Rhode Island to operate a state-based exchange.
The approvals follow those issued last week to eight states—Colorado, Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, Oregon and Washington—and Washington, D.C., to operate state-based exchanges.
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The state partnership exchange model is an option provided to states that want to manage part of the exchange in 2014. HHS says a partnership exchange allows states to make key decisions and tailor the marketplace to local needs and market conditions.
In addition to Delaware, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa and North Carolina have also expressed early interest in establishing a state partnership exchange, HHS says.
"States across the country are working to implement the health care law and build a marketplace that works for their residents," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. "In ten months, consumers in all 50 states will have access to a new marketplace where they will be able to easily purchase quality health insurance plans."
Under health reform, exchanges would operate in every state to allow individuals to buy health insurance. Exchanges can be run by individual states, by the federal government or by a combination of the two under an arrangement—the state partnership exchange.
Though exchanges are scheduled to begin operating on Jan. 1, 2014, many governors have refused to implement their own exchanges or stalled making plans until after the presidential election. Others have complained there hasn't been enough guidance from the government on how to do so. For those that don't intend to set up an exchange, the government will set up one for them.
Also read: How brokers fit into the exchange puzzle
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