Three proposed rules for the establishment of Affordable
Insurance Exchanges – intended to create competitive
marketplaces for private health insurance and a key component of
the healthcare reform legislation enacted in March 2010 –
were released today by Departments of Health and Human Services and
Treasury.
In a press release, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner
said the proposed rules, which focus on access,
eligibility, and premium tax credits, were a significant step
toward "achieving one of the signature goals of the Affordable
Care Act – to provide tens of millions of Americans with
access to affordable health insurance coverage."
CMS will be accepting comments on the proposed rules for 75 days
following publication in the Federal Register on August 17. HHS
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also issued a letter to state governors encouraging feedback
on the proposed rules. Additionally, it was announced that public
forums on the establishment of Affordable Insurance Exchanges will
be held during the comment period in six cities across the
country.
Only hours after the proposed rules were issued, the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that the individual mandate
provision of the Affordable Care Act requiring Americans to
purchase health insurance was unconstitutional. Calling the
individual mandate "a wholly novel and potentially unbounded
assertion of congressional authority," the Court stated that it could find no
"judicially enforceable limiting principle that would permit
us to uphold the mandate without obliterating the boundaries
inherent in the system of enumerated congressional powers."
The Eleventh Circuit did, however, rule that despite the
unconstitutionality of the individual mandate, the balance of the
Affordable Care Act could remain in place. Following the
June 2011 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth
Circuit, which upheld the constitutionality of the individual
mandate, it is expected that the question will ultimately be
decided by the Supreme Court.
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