More Info Expected on Health Insurance Exchanges

The Obama Administration is expected to provide long awaited information today to states deciding whether to set up health insurance exchanges.

To date, the federal government has provided limited details on how states can participate in the program, and states face a Jan. 1, 2013, deadline to decide whether they will participate in the program. States that do participate may have to create governance and information technology structures in order to function on an exchange.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is expected to reveal a framework for the insurance exchanges later today at a press event in Washington. The reforms state that the states can create their own network exchanges, join to share an infrastructure or entirely opt out of participation, in which case HHS would step in and set the exchange up for them.

There are political undertones to the exchange initiative; most Republican states dismiss the notion of what they term “Obamacare,” and lawmakers in those states are challenged with more than the decision as to whether to join; they also face the inevitability of having the federal government scrutinize the efforts of payers and providers if they do not set up their own exchange.

Sebelius is reported to have said the exchanges would share three key features: They will serve as one-stop shops for all insurance needs, guarantee competition between insurers based on price and quality, and ensure basic coverage.

"This is how Members of Congress get their health insurance today," she wrote on a Huffington Blog post. "And once these reforms are fully in place, buying insurance will become much more like buying a home appliance or an airline ticket."