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Health law author calls on Christie to set up exchange
An author of the healthcare law is calling on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) to set up his state's insurance exchange and not leave the task to the federal government.
Christie has not announced his decision. The deadline for states to say if they will run their own exchanges was pushed back from Friday to Dec. 15 to accommodate Republican governors.
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) wrote to Christie on Thursday as the original deadline loomed, urging him to sign a bill passed by the State Legislature that authorizes a New Jersey-run exchange.
"The time has come for you to ... act on behalf of the people of New Jersey," he wrote with New Jersey Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D) and Robert Menendez (D).
"Further delay in signing this legation threatens New Jerseyans' access to the best quality and most affordable health insurance."
According to a review by The Hill, 17 states and Washington, D.C., were committed to building their own marketplaces as of Thursday night. Twenty have said no to running their exchanges, and another five said they are planning to partner with the federal government.
Eight, including New Jersey, were undecided.
Healthcare experts agree that state-run exchanges will operate better than those run by the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department.
HHS has now extended deadlines related to the exchanges twice as it works to encourage states to implement their own using billions of dollars in federal money.
