The federal government made more grants available to U.S. states on Thursday for establishing open marketplaces for health insurance, with no limits on how much funding the states can seek.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters on a conference call that her department will be vigilant about checking the budgets that states submit with their applications and about helping them keep their expectations realistic about how much they will receive.
But she said there was no “precise amount” of money available.
Already, 48 states and the District of Columbia have received planning grants equal to $1 million each for the health insurance exchanges, a key part of the healthcare plan President Barack Obama signed into law last March.
Through the exchanges, individuals, families and small businesses will be able to buy affordable insurance, with insurance companies competing for their business by lowering premium charges, Sebelius said. Currently, larger businesses have an advantage in negotiating premium costs.
The law did not specify how each state must operate the exchanges and kept requirements broad, allowing states to work together on exchanges or opt out of creating a marketplace.
Many state-level administrators are concerned about having the exchanges up and running by 2014, when the law requires them to be operational, because they have no model to follow.
Because different states are at different points in establishing the exchanges, the federal government will remain flexible in awarding this round of grants, Sebelius said.
She said the federal government will also rely on the states to help each other in establishing the exchanges. For example, if one state creates an effective information technology system, the federal government see it is shared with others.
States are charged with implementing many of the law’s major provisions, along with the exchanges. Even though more than half of all states are challenging the law in federal courts, almost all are going ahead with putting the reforms in place in case the courts uphold the law.
Source : Reuters
