Governors Have No Excuse Not to Build Insurance Exchanges

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-20/governors-have-no-excuse-not-to-build-insurance-exchanges.html



Ever since health-care reform was passed in 2010, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Rick Perry of Texas, Scott Walker of Wisconsin and several other prominent Republican governors have vowed not to create the state insurance marketplaces, known as exchanges, the law requires.

Many of them say it’s impossible to comply with the law because the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services hasn’t given them enough information to move forward. Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia, writing on behalf of the Republican Governors Public Policy Committee, has sent President Barack Obama a list of 17 questions asking exactly what the exchanges will look like.

This strikes us as a bit of a smoke screen. In fact, it stretches the bounds of credulity as 17 states and the District of Columbia are working on their online exchanges and six more have pledged to work with HHS to build joint state-federal exchanges.
The exchanges will basically take the form of websites, designed to lead people through the process of selecting an insurance plan, based on price and coverage. In the process, users will be able to determine whether they qualify for subsidies or for Medicaid.

(The existing Massachusetts Health Connector is a model for what most exchanges are expected to look like.) To design and plan such a website doesn’t require knowing, as McDonnell demands, for example, how the federal government will manage pools of high-risk patients.

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1. It's all about political posturing for the ones against it.