WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul is on track in many states, the White House asserted Wednesday. But officials said the administration is preparing a federal backstop anyway for states in which opposition to the new law has blocked planning.
The law calls for states to build new health insurance markets called exchanges, so that millions of middle-class people who are currently uninsured can buy taxpayer-subsidized private coverage. It also expands eligibility for Medicaid so low-income adults who have no dependent children can get government insurance. Putting the two approaches together, more than 30 million Americans are expected to gain coverage starting in 2014.
But 26 states are asking the Supreme Court to overturn the health care law, and many of those have made little progress in planning their exchanges, even though the deadline clock is ticking. The law says state plans must be approved by Jan. 1, 2013 — a year in advance of the program’s launch — or the federal government will step in and run things.
“No matter where you live, on Jan. 1, 2014, an exchange will be up and running,” deputy
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