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RALEIGH The federal government and the state will share the responsibility for setting up a health care exchange in North Carolina, Gov. Bev Perdue announced Thursday.
The state has three options for a health care exchange: have the federal government set it up, have a state run exchange, or a hybrid state-federal exchange. The exchanges, health insurance clearing houses for small businesses and individuals without health insurance benefits at work, are required under the new federal health insurance law.
Perdue said she would have preferred a state-operated exchange, but chose the intermediate course so that Gov.-elect Pat McCrory and the legislature can make a future choice to go to a state-operated or a federally-operated exchange. Perdue said she discussed the options with McCrory, a Republican, and Republican legislative leaders, but did not say what they told her.
It won’t cost the state anything to do its parts of the job because the federal grant will cover it, said Al Delia, state Health and Human Services acting secretary.
Perdue, a Democrat, was limited in her choices because the state Senate did not pass a bill that would have allowed for a state health exchange. As part of the backlash against the new law, many Republican governors are refusing to set up state-run exchanges, and leaving the job to the federal government.
