The 2013 federal budget released this week by the Obama Administration includes $864 million to help get Health Insurance Exchanges in place and operational in all 50 states by Jan 1, 2014. Funding includes grants for individual state Exchanges as well as monies towards development of a federal “default” Exchange for states that fail to launch their own.
The funding increase is included in a $1 billion hike for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which is charged with managing the Exchange program. Marilyn Tavenner, Acting Administrator of CMS said, “The majority of the funding is going to the implementation of the exchanges. We plan on working with Congress for additional funding. We have a plan to implement the exchanges so they’ll be operational by 2014.”
While the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) passed in 2010 did not set aside any funding specifically for a federal exchange, the new budget allocates money to both funding the federal development and certifying state-based Exchanges, according to the budget documents. The budget also sets aside $290 million for “consumer and beneficiary education and outreach” within the Exchanges.
