26 States Decline ObamaCare Exchange; 'Administrative Nightmare' Seen

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Investors.com:

The federal government will likely be involved in running the ObamaCare exchange in at least 30 states, 26 of which expressly declined to establish state exchanges. One health-policy expert refers to it as an "administrative nightmare" for the Department of Health and Human Services.

Friday was the deadline for a state to let HHS know if it planned to establish a state exchange. Thus far only 18 states and the District of Columbia are planning on doing so.

As of right now only Utah and Florida remain undecided. Utah may still decide to set up a state exchange, but few expect that Florida will. When asked, a spokesman for Florida Gov. Rick Scott directed IBD to a letter Scott sent last month to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius requesting more information on the exchanges and a meeting with Sebelius. Sebelius has not responded to his letter.

Assuming Florida decides not to set up a state exchange, nearly 200 million people, or 64% of the U.S. population, will reside in a state with either a federal exchange or a partnership exchange. Although many of the people in those states such as those on Medicare or who have employer-based coverage will not be getting insurance through an exchange, millions of others will be.

Enrolling them will likely prove a daunting challenge for the federal government.

"HHS expected to be running zero exchanges," said Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. "They have been throwing money at states to bribe them to start exchanges. HHS maintains they'll have these things up and running by October 2013. I don't know anyone who is confident about that and I'm ready to predict that they will not."

The exchanges are where consumers without employer-based coverage will shop for insurance under ObamaCare and receive a tax credit toward its purchase if they are eligible.

Of the 26 states that have expressly declined to run a state exchange, 23 have decided to default to a federal exchange. The five most recent to do that are Montana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia.

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States say no thanks to exchanges.