NJOnline

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie announced today New Jersey will not collaborate with the Obama administration to create a health exchange — the virtual marketplace people will use to shop for insurance policies beginning next year .

With the decision, the Republican governor is once again distancing himself from Obama's Affordable Care Act.

“My administration is committed to meeting our obligation to comply with the Affordable Care Act, but only in a manner that is the most effective and efficient for the residents of New Jersey, and the businesses that will carry the costs of this new program," Christie said in a statement.

“In order to move forward in a manner that best meets that standard for our families and businesses, and that ensures that all New Jerseyans have access to the best healthcare options supported by the most effective insurance coverage, I have determined that federal operation of the Exchange is the responsible choice for our state.”

Health exchanges are meant to drive down costs by pooling thousands of consumers together online, where they would be able to negotiate better prices with insurance providers as a group. People who meet income guidelines can also apply for subsidies to help pay monthly premiums through the exchange.

Today's decision was not a surprise. Christie has twice vetoed legislation directing the administration to create the exchange for New Jersey, home to 1.3 million uninsured people. In his veto statement in December, he criticized the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for failing to answering dozens of questions on how much the exchange would cost state residents, among other concerns.

~snip~

Good News: Delay Of ObamaCare's Launch More Likely


On Thursday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus told HHS to cough up details on how it plans to get ObamaCare "exchanges" ready in time in dozens of states.

Baucus' demand came after the Health and Human Services official in charge of implementing the law, Gary Cohen, issued the same bland assurances he has been for months that everything is on track for Oct. 1, when the exchanges are supposed to open for business.

But no one is buying it, especially since HHS has been late with everything else and has been secretive about progress on building the massively complex exchanges with just over seven months to go.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, ranking Republican on the committee, said, "I have a hard time understanding how the administration expects to have exchanges up and running by Oct. 1, especially when we have no details on how the exchanges will work in more than half the states."

Even if these exchanges were up and running perfectly, it's a virtual certainty that ObamaCare will turn out to be a nightmare of central planning, massive market distortions and huge cost overruns.

Which is why ObamaCare must be entirely scrapped.

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials...ngly-likely.htm

am I the only one confused by the yes or no of this article? The Affordable Care Act is being voted down, scrapped. The "Health Insurance Exchange" is in?

Uh when did the States [NJ] get the choice to decide that Health Exchanges would work better than the ACA?

Quote: ThirstyMan wrote in post #3

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am I the only one confused by the yes or no of this article? The Affordable Care Act is being voted down, scrapped. The "Health Insurance Exchange" is in?

Uh when did the States [NJ] get the choice to decide that Health Exchanges would work better than the ACA?

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Quote: W-Girl wrote in post #4

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Quote: ThirstyMan wrote in post #3

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am I the only one confused by the yes or no of this article? The Affordable Care Act is being voted down, scrapped. The "Health Insurance Exchange" is in?

Uh when did the States [NJ] get the choice to decide that Health Exchanges would work better than the ACA?

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TM, I think every state can either set up it's own exchange or join the Federal exchange. I believe the deadline for the states to declare which way they are going was extended to 1/1/2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_insurance_exchange

The IBD article - is just an opinion that the exchanges are so convoluted and complicated - it will ultimately DELAY and doom the fate of Obamacare.

Congress is upset because they have NO CLUE or information from HHS on how these exchanges will work - at this late date - and be up and running by the 10/1/13 deadline.

Hope that helps ---TM !!

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Thanks W-Girl for trying. Maybe the utter confusion is a good thing! Look at the following and see if you think the two sentences match?

TITLE: Christie to let Obama create health insurance exchange

First Line: Gov. Chris Christie announced today New Jersey will not collaborate with the Obama administration to create a health exchange

Quote: ThirstyMan wrote in post #6

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Thanks W-Girl for trying. Maybe the utter confusion is a good thing! Look at the following and see if you think the two sentences match?

TITLE: Christie to let Obama create health insurance exchange

First Line: Gov. Chris Christie announced today New Jersey will not collaborate with the Obama administration to create a health exchange

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When Obamacare crashes and burns Obama and his minions will try to ram through Universal Healthcare.

I'm glad Christie has decided NOT to implement a state run exchange in New Jersey.

Lets see the Feds compete directly with the private insurers.