Rather than the fiscal cliff date, the one to be concerned about...

[Uncle Bill]

...is coming up very soon...Dec 14th in fact. Not sure how many of you in the "undecided" states have any clout with your Governor, but you might want to contact some of your state reps and help them decide.

UB

Should You Care About Obamacare State Exchanges?

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With the victory of President Obama a month ago, all hope of defeating Obamacare, and restoring health care freedom seemed lost. But fortunately the law continues to reveal its vulnerabilities. The law remains extremely unpopular and there seems to be quite a bit that can be done on the state level to prevent its full implementation so that real conversations of health reform can take place.

Right now, each state has until December 14, 2012 to decide whether or not they will set up state-based health care exchanges. Each state has an option to choose one of the following:

• Set up a state-based exchange (that will be managed by the state)
• Set up a partnership exchange (shared management between the state and the federal government)
• Or do nothing and default to a federal exchange (managed by the federal government)

Because of how quickly the law was rammed through, many experts are saying that the federal government doesn’t have the resources to set up numerous exchanges in the states. Right now 17 states have decided to opt out of setting up an exchange and there are currently 9 that remain undecided. The more states that opt out of the state-based exchanges, the harder it will be for the federal government to fully implement Obamacare and the more likely it will be that we can turn back the clock and re-frame the health care debate. The time to put pressure on the federal government in regard to Obamacare has come to an end for now and it is time to shift our focus on the states. See the map below to see where your state lies.

Florida | Idaho | Indiana | Montana | Pennsylvania | Tennessee | Utah
Virginia | West Virginia

[Franco]

Louisiana's stance...

Greenstein said Louisiana will return a $1 million federal grant it received to help set up the exchanges, which are designed to create a regulated marketplace where individuals and small businesses can buy subsidized private coverage.
Louisiana's decision means the federal government will administer an exchange when the law takes full effect in January 2014. Louisiana is the second state, after Florida, to announce that it won't participate in the exchanges.
Greenstein said the federal government has been slow in providing guidance on what the exchanges should look like, and what coverage the participating insurers would have to provide.
He added that insurance premiums are likely to rise under the new law, and he does not want state regulators or Gov. Bobby Jindal to be blamed if that occurred.
"Envision an exchange which, if we were to run it, has the governor's name on top of the letterhead," Greenstein said. "We know we would see a number of letters that would go out to businesses and families throughout the state announcing the increase in premiums."

Louisiana is among more than two dozen states that have challenged the constitutionality of the new law, and Jindal has been outspoken in calling for the law's repeal.