Massachusetts insurance exchange awarded funds to help it fall in line with the Affordable Care Act

Health Care ReformMassachusetts is currently one of the few states that has a working insurance exchange in place. The state’s online marketplace has been a boon for those looking for affordable health insurance policies but it does not comply with the standards established by the Affordable Care Act. Instead of requiring the state to scrap the project and start from scratch, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and auxiliary arm of the Department of Health and Human Services, has awarded the state with funding to help legislators make necessary changes.

He state has been granted $11.6 million, which is to be used to make changes to the current exchange program to make it more compliant with the federal health care law. The Massachusetts Health Connector, a state-backed company responsible for governing the exchange, believes that the money will help the exchange continue operating at high efficiency for years to come. Much of the money will be used to create a new system that allows consumers to find the information on health insurance policies that they need to know.

The Department of Health and Human Services has noted that states are making progress towards building insurance exchanges, but this progress is slow going. States must have a fully functioning exchange system in place by 2014 or risk the federal government stepping in and building one of its own.

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