{"id":13172,"date":"2012-11-16T12:03:14","date_gmt":"2012-11-16T19:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=13172"},"modified":"2012-11-16T12:12:28","modified_gmt":"2012-11-16T19:12:28","slug":"gov-otter-delays-health-insurance-exchange-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/11\/16\/gov-otter-delays-health-insurance-exchange-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"Idaho Gov. Otter Delays Health Insurance Exchange Decision"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_8897\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 200px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Gov. C.L. &quot;Butch&quot; Otter \" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/07\/118458280.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8897\" title=\"Butch Otter \" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/07\/118458280-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/07\/118458280-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/07\/118458280-620x929.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/07\/118458280.jpg 2001w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Scott Olson \/ Getty Images<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. C.L. &quot;Butch&quot; Otter<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Governor C.L. &#8220;Butch&#8221; said in a news release this morning he&#8217;ll wait to consult with Idaho Legislative leaders before deciding if the state will create its own <a title=\"Idaho\u2019s Health Insurance Exchange Debate\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/topic\/health-insurance-exchange\/\" target=\"_blank\">health insurance exchange<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Late yesterday afternoon, the\u00a0 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it would give states until Dec. 14 to decide if they&#8217;ll create a state-based exchange, a federal exchange, or a partnership model.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the governor&#8217;s press release:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Governor C.L. \u201cButch\u201d Otter said today that he will consult with legislative leaders and be ready by the new December 14 deadline for submitting a decision on whether Idaho will build its own health insurance exchange or opt into the federal system being developed under Obamacare.<!--more--><div class=\"related-content alignleft\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/health-insurance-exchange-decision-rests-with-gov-otter-but-legislators-will-have-their-say\/\">Health Insurance Exchange Decision Rests With Gov. Otter, But Legislators Will Have Their Say<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/gov-otter-to-weigh-conflicting-messages-in-health-insurance-exchange-decision\/\">Gov. Otter To Weigh Conflicting Messages In Health Insurance Exchange Decision<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/fear-of-rising-health-care-costs-drives-health-exchange-recommendation\/\">Fear Of Rising Health Insurance Costs Drives Health Exchange Recommendation<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/06\/Capitol-Wide-Shot-ERS.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/topic\/health-insurance-exchange\/\">Idaho&#8217;s Health Insurance Exchange Debate<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n<p>Governor Otter said he was grateful for Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius setting back the deadline, which had been today. Sebelius set the new deadline late Thursday after the Republican Governors Association (RGA) and others called on the White House for a delay. December 14 also is the deadline for states that opt to build their own exchange to submit plans for meeting federal mandates on its design and operation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have my working group\u2019s recommendation, and I have been listening carefully to stakeholders and citizens about this important choice. This extension gives us more time to get answers from HHS about what the federal requirements will be,\u201d said Governor Otter, who consulted with a number of his colleagues from other states at the RGA conference in Las Vegas this week. \u201cI don\u2019t want us buying a pig in a poke, so with this extension I\u2019m hoping we\u2019ll get answers to the questions and concerns we\u2019re hearing from legislators and the public.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Under Obamacare \u2013 or the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act \u2013 every state must offer citizens an online portal for comparing and purchasing health insurance policies that meet federal requirements. States have balked at moving forward with plans, first until after the U.S. Supreme Court weighed the law\u2019s constitutionality and then until after the November 6 election determined the likelihood of Obamacare remaining on the books.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Governor C.L. &#8220;Butch&#8221; said in a news release this morning he&#8217;ll wait to consult with Idaho Legislative leaders before deciding if the state will create its own health insurance exchange. Late yesterday afternoon, the\u00a0 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it would give states until Dec. 14 to decide if they&#8217;ll create a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":8897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[210,27,119],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13172"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}