US Health Insurance Exchanges Chief to Step Down

From Reuters Health Information
By Andrew Seaman and Anna Yukhananov
via Medscape Today News (subscription required)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) Aug 02 - The official charged with overseeing the creation of U.S. state-based health insurance exchanges is stepping down at a critical juncture for the Obama administration's healthcare overhaul.

Joel Ario, director of health insurance exchanges at the Department of Health and Human Services, is leaving his job just as states begin to get guidelines for setting up the exchanges, HHS officials confirmed on Tuesday.

"It would certainly shake things up for the states who have had a very good working relationship with Joel, especially when we are all feeling the pressure to move forward ... so we can have our state-based exchanges up and running in 2014," Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger said in a statement.

The idea behind the exchanges is to create easy access to a marketplace of insurance plans and allow uninsured people and small businesses to band together to negotiate for cheaper rates. Nearly 9 million people are expected to use the exchanges in the first year they operate. (more)
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So, yeah, that was the idea...LOL!