Monday, October 10th, 2011 - 8:09
Monday, October 10, 2011 - 07:59
Florida sets up a small insurance exchange for small businesses, but still opposes the health reform law.
Florida, one of the staunchest opponents of the health reform law, will offer a health insurance exchange for small businesses with 50 or fewer employees, according to a report from Kaiser Health News.
The exchange will not offer coverage to individuals, set a minimum level of essential benefits or provide subsidies to businesses to help them afford coverage. Setting up the exchange for small businesses is a far cry from the exchange(s) called for under health reform.
But in setting up an exchange, Florida appears to acknowledge that the exchange format could bring greater efficiencies and lower costs for small businesses. The state cites the difficulty of small businesses in finding and affording coverage as the main impetus for the exchange. However, according to the KHN report, businesses are not very enthused about it.
Still, Florida has refused to accept federal grants to implement a larger exchange for individuals and a host of other health reform programs. If the health reform law withstands a Supreme Court decision, the federal government will have to become actively involved in running Florida's exchange if health reform is to function in one of the nation's largest states.
