More than 30 states are facing a deadline to decide if they will create their own state-run healthcare exchanges, reports the Associated Press.
States must apply to run their own exchanges by Nov. 14, and grants cannot be awarded after Jan. 1, 2015.
Despite this somewhat looming deadline, many state legislatures likely will adjourn their spring sessions without touching on the subject, according to the AP.
Initially, each state was to run its own marketplace under the ACA. So far, only 16 states and Washington, D.C., have elected to do so. The federal government ended up running exchanges for the remaining states.
However, states that ran their own marketplaces were able to enroll customers faster, notes the article. For example, Colorado's Connect for Health signed up 119,000 people for commercial insurance as of April 1, just shy of its 136,000 goal, FierceHealthPayer previously reported.
Many Republican-controlled states remain reluctant to create their own exchanges, due to increasing dislike of the Affordable Care Act. In January, three Republican senators unveiled a proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would cancel Medicaid expansion and lower credits for buying insurance, FierceHealthPayer previously reported.
Although 32 states plus Washington, D.C., implemented at least one ACA market reform between January 2012 and November 2013, five states--Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming--withheld ACA support, a February Commonwealth Fund analysis found. Those five states neglected to enforce market reforms, defaulted to federally-run exchanges and rejected Medicaid expansion.
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