Health Insurance Exchange Chief Leaving Job

Senior U.S. health officials confirmed yesterday that Joel Ario, director of health insurance exchanges at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is leaving his job after just one year in office. Ario joined HHS last year after serving as Pennsylvania's insurance commissioner since 2007.

"Exchange planning will proceed as it has up till now," said Steve Larsen, director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in a Reuters report.

"We're going to have a smooth transition. He's not leaving tomorrow," Larsen told reporters after a hearing on Capitol Hill when asked about Ario's reported departure.

There was no indication given as to why Ario is leaving, or when he will vacate the office.

President Obama’s Accountable Care Act health care reforms, which requires an open marketplace of insurance plans to provide the uninsured and underinsured individuals as well as small businesses to utilize in order to negotiate and obtain the best possible health care plan. All states are mandated to have a plan in place by 2014. Updates to the legislation hold that the federal government will create exchanges for those states that do not comply by the deadline.

Meanwhile, health exchange activity is heating up. As of today, 15 states are promulgating legislation on their own health insurance exchanges, which include state grants made possible by the health care overhaul.

The exception to states pursuing funding is Florida, with Gov. Rick Scott stating his opposition to the law, according to the New York Times. Florida, which has the country’s fourth-highest unemployment rate, and a $3.7 billion budget gap this year, turned away millions of dollars in grants made available under the Affordable Care Act, and confirmed that it is not pursuing further grants.