PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The director of the new state health insurance exchange being created as part of the federal health overhaul says that it is on track to begin enrolling Rhode Islanders this fall and that it should offer patients a larger role, additional choice and more affordability in their health care.

Christine Ferguson said the exchange — an online insurance marketplace designed to help individuals and small businesses buy health coverage — is in the middle of a "steady build." That includes everything from the technology needed to allow people to enroll online to the outreach that will be done to get people to use it.

The exchanges, which are being rolled out in every state, are a centerpiece of the federal Affordable Care Act, the biggest addition to the social safety net in the U.S. since Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 and an attempt to get coverage to about 30 million Americans who lack it.