Health insurance exchanges in Minnesota facing tight deadlines

Health Insurance Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton

With the start of the legislative session, lawmakers are diving right in to the healthcare overhaul. This week, Minnesota saw the beginning of a fresh legislative session, and Republican and DFL lawmakers have jumped directly into the announcement of a new bill that would implement a central element of the federal healthcare reforms within the state, namely the health insurance exchange. This virtual marketplace would provide an online arena in which residents can shop for coverage. Up to a million residents of Minnesota, in addition to small businesses, will be…

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Health insurance exchanges for 20 states have received their approval

Vermont Health insurance exchanges

Another eight states have now received the all clear in the form of a conditional federal approval. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has just announced that an additional eight states have now received their conditional approval for their state based health insurance exchanges, bringing the total number in the country up to 20. These approvals have been coming through since last week and allow those states to begin moving forward. Among the newest additions to the approved list for their health insurance exchanges are Hawaii, Utah,…

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Health insurance exchange plan in Minnesota costlier than expected

Health Insurance Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton

The state’s bill for the program at the heart of the healthcare reforms is higher than predicted. According to Governor Mark Dayton’s administration, the cost of operating the health insurance exchange in the year 2015 is now predicted to be around $54 million. Previous forecasts had placed the expense at between $30 million and $40 million for the state. That said, Minnesota will not need to obtain those funds until that year, when the state health insurance exchanges are required to be able to sustain themselves, financially. The same projections…

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Health insurance exchange in Illinois to start moving ahead

Health insurance Illinois Governor Pat Quinn

The state has decided that it will be implementing the program for its residents. Even before hearing the results of the presidential election, Illinois decided that the health insurance exchange would go full steam ahead according to the federal healthcare overhaul’s regulations. Governor Pat Quinn released the intentions to move forward before knowing who the next president would be. Officials from the state are already reviewing five different bids for developing and building the health insurance exchange for the state in order to be able to maintain control over that…

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Health insurance exchange participation by states encouraged by Obama

Health insurance care reform confusion debate

The President and his administration are working to change the remind of reluctant states. Throughout the week, the Obama administration has been working to try to encourage the states that have been reluctant to take control of their own health insurance exchange marketplaces to move forward as time starts to run low before the deadline for acting on this important provision of the healthcare reforms. This marketplace is designed to help millions of Americans to obtain affordable coverage. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will be meeting four…

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