The deadline for states to submit their letters to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) indicating their intent to establish a state exchange was December 14, 2012. In total, 20 states so far have been granted conditional approval to build either full or partial state exchanges. The deadline for exchanges to be complete is October 1, 2013.
The following states were conditionally approved by HHS Secretary Sebelius for building a state base exchange:
- California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Vermont, and Utah, Colorado, Connecticut, D.C., Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington
The following states were conditionally approved for building a partnership exchange:
- Arkansas and Delaware
The following states have until February 15, 2013 to apply for a state partnership exchange or they will default to the federally facilitated exchanges:
- Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia
Tribal consultation policy is a factor of state exchange approval, but is not the deciding factor that will terminate the application if a state does not have one. Acceptance of the exchange proposal depends on the circumstances on various components. If a state has everything right in its proposal, except for tribal consultation, then the state could still get conditional approval. States blueprints are located on Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) website at cciio.cms.gov.