WASHINGTON (AP) — Friday is decision day for states to notify Washington if they will run their own insurance markets under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.
A check by The Associated Press finds a divided nation moving ahead anyway.
Nineteen states, including Texas, have turned down the administration’s invitation to set up health insurance exchanges, which start serving millions of uninsured Americans in less than a year.
That leaves the feds with a huge task, one of the challenges that will define Obama’s second term.
On the other side, 17 states and Washington, D.C., say they want to set up their own markets. .
And another eight have indicated they want to pursue a state-federal partnership. Six remain undecided.
Exchanges will be the main way consumers experience the new health care law.
