Under the Affordable Health Care Act, states will be required to create insurance pooling mechanisms known as Exchanges to increase competition in the insurance market and improve the accessibility and affordability of coverage for individuals, the self-employed and small businesses. The House recently passed a bill (H.R. 1213) to strip funding for states to establish these Exchanges.
Creation of Exchanges, which are health marketplaces within states, is one of the positive components of the health reform law. The goal of these new state-based exchanges is to increase competition in the insurance market and improve the accessibility and affordability of coverage for individuals, the self-employed and small businesses. The NASE strongly urges lawmakers to focus on repealing and improving the more burdensome and unworkable provisions in the health reform law rather than stripping the items that may improve the health insurance market for America's smaller businesses.
As with other bills the House has passed to defund various parts of the health care law, this bill is likely to stall in the Senate.
Stay tuned to Washington Watch for updates on the legislation.