Missouri postpones further health insurance exchange efforts

Following the voicing of concerns by several Republican senators, insurance officials from Missouri have taken a step back away from intentions to begin spending millions of dollars from the federal government on an investment into the computer technology that would be required to put a central element of the new federal health care law into place. In August, Missouri had been awarded a federal grant of $21 million to be applied to the preparation for the health insurance exchange to be created and run by the state and would allow…

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New Jersey taking tentative steps toward a health insurance exchange

New Jersey may be one step closer to building its own health insurance exchange after state officials, industry analysts and stakeholders met Wednesday to discuss the issue. The meeting was hosted by the NJ for Health Care and NJ Citizen Action Education Fund. Both organizations advocate health care reform for the sake of New Jersey residents. Born from the meeting was a common consensus that the state should take measures to establish its own insurance exchange to ensure that it has control of the program by the 2014 deadline. Ray…

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New York legislators reject federal funding for health insurance exchange

New York has long stood as a bastion for what the federal government stands for. The state boasts of one of the most populated and diverse cities in the world where the shortfalls and accolades of the government are highlighted in stark contrast. The state is also home to more than 2.6 million uninsured residents, most of whom cannot afford health insurance. Given the high number of those living in the state without insurance coverage, it would seem that lawmakers in New York would be welcoming to federal health care…

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South Carolina rejects federal money that would help build insurance exchange

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…

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Constitutional legality of health insurance mandate headed for the Supreme Court; President Obama is confident in its passing

Mere days after a federal appeals court in Washington declared that the individual insurance mandate posed by the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional; President Obama has proclaimed his confidence that the Supreme Court would uphold the measure. Several states have questioned the constitutional legality of the Affordable Care Act, but only a handful have sought to fight the federal law in court. The matter will, indeed, be heading for the Supreme Court, but it may be several years before it can be resolved, especially with an election year rapidly approaching.…

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