Healthcare reforms in Illinois approved

Health care Reform Update

Healthcare Reform UpdateFederal officials have given their conditional approval to the health insurance exchange in the state.

Illinois has just received the conditional approval from the federal government for the healthcare reforms that it is making in terms of establishing a health insurance marketplace that will open for thousands of residents of the state starting on October 1 in order to allow for the purchase of coverage that will begin on January 1, 2014.

This is a major step in the state for its ability to carry out the Affordable Care Act and its requirements.

Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a letter of approval for the healthcare reforms in Illinois. This letter to Governor Pat Quinn stated that while the health insurance exchange was approved, there were six conditions that would need to be met by the state.

The healthcare reforms in Illinois are a part of a partnership between the state and federal governments.

Among the conditions for the healthcare reforms in order to meet with the approval of the government, there are some deadlines which must be kept. This type of conditional acceptance is not unusual, as all of the approvals that the federal government has given for the health insurance exchanges have had conditions applied so far. This includes applying deadlines and completing certain tasks, such as selecting contractors to complete some of the required work. That means that the officials in the state will still be under considerable pressure to develop the marketplace and implement it.

According to the National Academy for State Health Policy, Sonya Schwartz, “I do think they can meet these conditions.” Schwartz has been monitoring the progress of the states in terms of the efforts that they have been making to conform to the healthcare reforms required by the Affordable Care Act of 2010. She went on to say that “They’ve got a lot of work to do to move to being a state exchange.”

The upcoming steps toward accomplishing the various healthcare reforms could be even more challenging than those that have already been accomplished. Governor Quinn is hopeful that the state will receive approval from the Legislature for an exchange that will be entirely operated by the state by 2015. At the moment, the state is partnering with the federal government in order to be up and running in time for the 2014 required start date.

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