North Dakota set to open first state health care exchange, Minnesota moving forward

(jimmywayne22, Flickr)

North Dakota is on its way to becoming the first state in the country to have an operating health insurance exchange, which is required under the Affordable Care Act.

The Grand Forks Herald reports that North Dakota’s bill was drafted by a dedicated Health Care Reform Review Committee after the regular session ended.

Pam Sharp, director of the North Dakota Office of Management and Budget, said it will include a new website to allow residents to compare costs and benefits of health insurance plans.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a report (.pdf) earlier this summer that 39 states and the District of Columbia have introduced some form of legislation promoting exchange implementation.”

“Among the 34 states where the legislation would fully establish a state exchange program, ten states enacted such bills into law,” the group reports.

Most states should have some infrastructure in place by January 2013 for an exchange. Minnesota has yet to make the required adjustments, with Republicans in the legislature blocking legislation, leading Prof. Larry Jacobs of the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute to conclude that “many Minnesotan Republicans appear to equate any action with political and constitutional abdication.”

Gov. Mark Dayton created two committees at the end of October that are charged with forging and implementing the state’s health exchange plan, according to Politics in Minnesota. But Republicans are questioning whether he has the authority to move without the legislature.

Only 11 states have not introduced any legislation to establish a state exchange program. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says that “Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire and Oklahoma reportedly will return exchange grant funds.”