North Carolina will not work with the federal government in setting up a health insurance exchange, the state's governor said Tuesday.
“There has been a lack of preparation within state government during the past year to build necessary and reliable systems to implement a state exchange,” Gov. Pat McCrory said in a statement.
States have until Feb. 15 to notify the Department of Health and Human Services of whether they want to enter a partnership agreement with HHS, in which the states would assume certain exchange functions. Previously, HHS approved such arrangements for Arkansas and Delaware.
In addition, HHS has conditionally approved applications from 17 states and the District of Columbia to run health insurance exchanges.
States had until mid-December to submit applications HHS to run their own health insurance exchanges in 2014. The federal government will set up exchanges in states that decline to do so or do not enter partnership agreements with HHS.
The exchanges, a key part of the 2010 health care reform law, will be used principally by the lower-income uninsured to purchase coverage with federal premium subsidies from participating insurers.
The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that 27 million Americans will receive health insurance coverage through the exchanges by 2017.
(Reuters) — Mississippi on Friday became the first state to have its proposal for a health insurance exchange rejected by the U.S. government, and federal officials said Republican Gov. Phil Bryant's opposition to the plan was to blame.