Romney Transition Chief Mike Leavitt: States Should Establish Their Own ACA Health Exchanges
Governors who want to advantage insurance companies over their state's voters should drop the ball on this. Governors who want to give their state's voters a level playing field in bargaining with insurers should pick up this ball and run with it.
Igor Volsky:
Romney's Transition Chief Is Encouraging States To Implement Obamacare: Former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt… is “working to get states to create their own exchanges” — the new marketplaces that will connect consumers with insurance coverage by 2014. States have the option of establishing and administrating their own systems or outsourcing the task to the federal government…. Leavitt Partners argues… states… would be giving up the power to design their own uniquely tailored systems if they default to the feds, and that they risk losing regulatory authority over insurers that operate in their states under the auspices of the federally designed exchange…. Leavitt Partners is heavily invested in the law’s state-based exchanges and “has been advising companies and state legislatures on how to create exchanges.” The group hired former government officials who helped build the Utah exchange soon after the federal health law passed and its websites brags about its abilities to help clients implement the measure.
