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Delaware Foregoes Setting Up Its Own Health Exchange

Jasleen Kaur
/
creative commons

DOVER, Del. (AP) - Delaware officials have decided not to develop the state's own health insurance exchange under the Affordable Care Act and instead will keep the current state-federal partnership model.

Delaware was granted nonbinding approval in June to develop a supported state-based health insurance marketplace, but Health and Social Services Secretary Rita Landgraf said Thursday that the state will not move forward with the plan.

Delaware officials eyed a state-based exchange amid uncertainty over whether the U.S. Supreme Court would uphold government insurance subsidies for millions of people, including the majority of marketplace enrollees in Delaware.

Landgraf said the court's decision upholding the subsidies was a key factor in maintaining the current model.

She also noted that the state would have faced uncertain costs for continuing to use the federal government's enrollment portal.

Don Rush is the News Director at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.