The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has given Illinois conditional approval to work with HHS to set up a "partnership exchange."
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) calls for HHS to work with states to set up exchanges or Web-based health insurance supermarkets, by Oct. 1.
Exchanges can be run by individual states, by HHS, or by a state teaming with HHS to run a state partnership exchange.
HHS now has given 20 states and the District of Columbia conditional approval to set up their own exchanges or form partnership exchanges.
