WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration is giving states flexibility in coming up with their own health care plans, but they have to come up with something.
That flexibility is central to the administration’s message to the states when it comes to carrying out the new health overhaul law that eventually will cover most of America’s 50 million uninsured people.
A long-awaited regulation issued Monday stresses state and federal leeway in the face of a huge logistical challenge.
Starting Jan. 1, 2014, millions will be able to buy health insurance through new state-based markets called exchanges.
Some states are moving ahead, but many are waiting for the Supreme Court to decide whether the law is constitutional. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (seh-BEEL’-yuhs) says she expects the law to be upheld.
