New rules aim to ease state-run health insurance exchanges

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-na-healthcare-exchanges-20120313,0,5088888.story

In the face of mounting resistance from Republican state leaders and other critics, the Obama administration moved Monday to ease development of state-based insurance exchanges, a key feature of the new healthcare law.

The law envisions that states will set up these exchanges for Americans who do not get health coverage from their employer or who work for small businesses.

More than 30 million Americans ultimately are expected to use the exchanges, which are designed to allow consumers to shop online for health plans in 2014 much as they shop for hotels or airplane tickets. Many Americans will qualify for federal aid to help them buy coverage.

But the administration has been wrestling with how to set standards for the exchanges to protect consumers without saddling states, insurers and businesses with crippling new regulations.