Reeling from the impact of Hurricane Irene, South Carolina has not lost sight of opposing federal health care reform. Tony Keck, head of the state’s Health and Human Serviced Department, announced Thursday that the state would be rejecting millions of dollars in federal grants that would have been used to help the state build a health insurance exchange. The exchange would have helped residents of the state find affordable insurance coverage and, theoretically, reduce the overall cost of insurance policies within the state as insurers fought for customers. South Carolina…
Read MoreTag: health care reform deadlines
States that do not meet federal deadlines may still have a chance to run health insurance exchanges
The federal government has been relenting on its once strict mandates regarding health insurance exchanges, namely on the deadlines given for states to establish such programs. Originally, states that rejected the notion of exchanges outright would relinquish this responsibility to the federal government, who would then run the exchanges. In this scenario, state officials would have no say in the practices of the exchange programs. Spurred by complaints over the lack of guidance from the government, however, the Obama administration is relenting on these strict mandates and giving states another…
Read MoreKansas rejects health insurance exchanges, returns money to government
Kansas, on Tuesday, returned a large grant provided by the federal government to help the state establish a health insurance exchange program. The state has long opposed the health care reform instigated by the Obama administration and has taken steps to block the reform’s measures from affecting the insurance industry within Kansas. Several other states have railed against the reform, but Kansas is only the second to return money to the federal government. They money would have funded the majority of the insurance exchange, but now the state will have…
Read More