The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is lowering the bar for states that might want to set up their own health insurance exchange programs.
Originally, HHS had asked states that want to build their own exchanges to submit a detailed exchange construction "blueprint" by Nov. 16 — Friday.
Now, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has written to governors to tell them that all they have to submit by Friday is a "declaration letter" indicating the state is interested in helping to establish its own "state-based exchange" program, according to a copy of the letter posted by StateReforum.org, an affiliate of the National Academy for State Health Policy.
A state can take until Dec. 14 to submit its exchange blueprint, Sebelius said.
A state that wants to work with HHS to develop a "state partnership exchange" — an exchange set up in such a way that a state handles some tasks and HHS handles others — can submit declaration letters and blueprint applications on a rolling basis up until Feb. 15, 2013, Sebelius said.
