Home Health & Hospice Week

Now a total of 12 states are on their way to operating health insurance Exchange models, with HHS adding Delaware, Rhode Island and Minnesota to the list on Dec. 20. These three states will join Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, Oregon and Washington.

HHS issued conditional approvals to the 12 states in operating State Partnership Exchanges, pursuant to the Affordable Care Act. The State Partnership Exchange model will allow states to manage part of the Exchange in 2014, when states will be able to "make key decisions and tailor the marketplace to local needs and market conditions," HHS says.

Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa and North Carolina are likely to follow in establishing State Partnership Exchanges. In 10 months, consumers in all 50 states "will have access to a new marketplace where they will be able to easily purchase quality health insurance plans," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in the Dec. 20 announcement. The model allows consumers to purchase health insurance from qualified health plans directly through these marketplaces and to even get tax credits to help pay for their health insurance.