Report: More Than Half of States Have No Health Insurance Exchange Plan

This entry has been edited from its original posting to reflect the fact that it's only been one month, not two, since the Supreme Court ruled on the ACA.

It's been more than a month since the Affordable Care Act was declared constitutional by the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision. But opponents of the law have been successful in preventing some states from advancing plans for the online exchanges that would provide the uninsured a platform to buy insurance and access federal subsidies for coverage.

The Tulsa World reports today on the challenges its home state of Oklahoma faces in reaching compliance with the exchange component of the law by the January 1, 2014 deadline. According to the paper, Gov. Mary Fallin accepted a $54 million grant to help develop an exchange, but later rejected the funds after she faced tea party pressure from her political party. Fallin is a Republican.

Further, the Oklahoma legislature has failed twice to advance exchange plans due to pressure from the tea party. If a state doesn't have an exchange set up by the deadline, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will install one.

The World further reports that exchanges are largely off the table in the states that lack plans for them in favor of discussion over Medicaid expansion.

Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio