Republicans are asking whether officials in Vermont and theDistrict of Columbia really have the authority to force some or allhealth insurance business onto the new Patient Protection andAffordable Care Act exchanges.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and other leaders of the HouseOversight and Government Reform have sent a letter asking aboutlocal officials' ability to shut down non-exchange markets to U.S.Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Related story: 8things to know about PPACA state exchanges

The lawmakers also have sent similar letters asking about thematter to officials in Vermont and the District of Columbia.

D.C. officials are trying to get all individuals to buy coveragethrough their district-based exchange, and for all small groups toget their coverage through the exchange by 2015. Health insuranceagents and brokers could still sell the coverage but would have towork with the exchange.

Vermont is trying to move its individual and small-group marketsonto the Vermont exchange.

The D.C. proposal and the Vermont proposal are "inconsistentwith principles of consumer choice and competition," Issa andcolleagues wrote in the letters.

State or D.C. efforts to eliminate non-exchange markets conflictwith PPACA, which states that nothing in PPACA is supposed to keepcompanies from selling coverage outside an exchange or to keepindividuals from buying coverage outside an exchange, the lawmakerssaid.

The D.C. and Vermont efforts to shut down non-exchange markets"violate the principle of voluntary participation in exchanges thatwas codified in PPACA and reaffirmed in your guidance when youwrote that 'participation in a [small business exchange] isstrictly voluntary for small employers," the lawmakerstold Sebelius.

D.C. officials have argued that they need to unify theirindividual and small-group markets on the district's exchangebecause the district is too small to have successful, separateexchange and non-exchange markets.

In Vermont, state officials told the Associated Press that theybelieve PPACA gives states broad authority over regulation of anynon-exchange health insurance markets under their jurisdiction andclearly gives states the authority to impose rules that are morestrict than the rules imposed by PPACA.

Dave Gram of the Associated Press contributed information tothis article.

See also:

• MeetIRS Form 1095-A
• Rejecting PPACA exchanges, but not the federalgrants