State-run health insurance exchange has no future in Florida
The Florida Senate has launched a new website concerning the Affordable Care Act and the state’s ongoing opposition to the federal law. The website reiterates the state’s stance on a health insurance exchange, noting that the state will not actually build or operate an exchange in any way. Florida is one of several states that has chosen not to run its own exchange program. Instead, this burden will fall to the federal government, which will be responsible for operating the exchange into the future.
Website claims that an exchange is impossible, even if the state was supportive
The website suggests that the state would not be able to operate a health insurance exchange, even if it wanted to, by the deadline provided by the federal government. The Affordable Care Act requires each state to host a functioning exchange program by January 2014. States that cannot comply with this deadline will lose control of their insurance exchange initiatives to the Department of Health and Human Services. Florida legislators suggest that the federal government has not provided enough information concerning the building of an exchange program and that the deadlines are far too strict to be feasible.
Exchange efforts may be impossible
Even if lawmakers had a change of heart and decided to build a health insurance exchange, the effort would likely fall well short of the deadline established by the Affordable Care Act. A health insurance exchange must be designed to provide considers with access to affordable insurance coverage. Florida officials would be able to regulate the exchange, but would have to find ways to work with private insurance companies to procure the policies needed to populate the exchange program. This in itself would be a massively time consuming process. The state would also have to build a comprehensive online marketplace that is both secure and convenient for consumers.
Federal government will run the Florida health insurance exchange
Considering Florida’s staunch opposition to the Affordable Care Act, the state would only likely be able to build an exchange if it had begun taking steps to do so in 2010. As it stands now, the federal government will be responsible for a health insurance exchange in Florida, which has some state officials concerned that the program will not be suited to the particular needs of the Floridian market.