Missouri, Kansas won’t set up health insurance exchanges

• Flickr: juhansonin
• Missouri and Kansas won’t be setting up their own exchanges.

Missouri and Kansas aren’t going to be picking up the phone this week to tell the federal government that they intend to establish a state-run health insurance exchange program.

Gov. Sam Brownback issued a statement yesterday that he won’t support submitting an application by the November 16 deadline mandated by the Affordable Care Act, and Gov. Jay Nixon stated that he will respect the wishes of Missouri voters, who approved a ballot measure that prohibits the governor from creating an exchange without the input of the Legislature. The position of both governors doesn’t stop their states from having a government-run exchange (an online arena where businesses and individuals could compare private health insurance plans). Under the terms of the health care law, the federal government will design and implement the exchange by 2014. And the person responsible for that process is Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the former governor of Kansas.