New Health Exchange Rules Put States in the Driver’s Seat

Media Contacts
Gary Kalman

Statement of U.S. PIRG Policy Analyst Mike Russo on today’s release of federal exchange regulations

U.S. PIRG Education Fund

“The draft rules released today by the federal Department of Health and Human Services put states in the driver’s seat when it comes to setting up new health benefits exchanges.  The regulations list the minimum standards a state will need to meet in order to run their own exchange, but they also lay out the many choices states will need to make.  In particular, the rules do not require states to empower their exchanges to negotiate on behalf of consumers, but do make clear that these strategies can lower costs, improve value, and enhance competition.

“HHS today released a menu, not a recipe.  State leaders should take the flexibility they’ve been given to design a strong, negotiating exchange on behalf of consumers.”

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U.S. PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups, is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest advocacy organization. For more information, visit http://www.uspirg.org.
For more on U.S. PIRG’s Making Health Care Work Campaign click here.

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