Some people think this is bad news, while others think it's a good thing: State officials are letting the federal government create and operate Florida's health insurance exchange for 2014.
Friday was the deadline for states that wanted to be partners in the exchange to notify Health and Human Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. And as Dara Kam of the Palm Beach Post reports, Florida let the deadline go by without acting.
Consultants have said the creation of the exchange is difficult and expensive, so it's not necessarily a bad thing for states to let federal officials carry the load for the first year. But some legislators have said they'd like the state to play a role in setting rules and choosing the plans for Florida's exchange, so they hope to apply for a partnership down the road.
Given the difficulty and tight time frame to get the exchange running by Oct. 1, about half the states made the same decision as Florida, Kaiser Health News reports.
