Some states that will be running their health insurance exchanges with help from the federal government are not receiving necessary information in a timely fashion, which may inhibit their ability to effectively prepare for the launch of their marketplaces, according to a study released Friday from the Urban Institute.
Linda Blumburg and Shanna Rifkin, senior fellow and research assistant, respectively, in the Urban Institute's Health Policy Center, write that based on three states that will have federally facilitated exchanges—Alabama, Michigan and Virginia—“political challenges at the level of the state legislature … continue to create significant barriers to accessing (federal funds for implementation), even when governors' offices are predisposed to doing so.”
The researchers found that whether a state will leave it to the feds entirely to run the exchange, or whether it will do it in partnership with Uncle Sam, makes a difference on preparedness.