CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner told Congress today that the health insurance exchanges established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will open for enrollment by the Oct. 1 deadline.
Ms. Tavenner testified on the health insurance exchange implementation during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing. CMS has already completed most of the development of the services that will support open enrollment in the exchanges, Ms. Tavenner said. Furthermore, she testified that live testing of the enrollment system involving all of the necessary agencies is 80 percent complete.
The insurance rates for the federal exchange will be released in September. Republican lawmakers have asked HHS to release the rates earlier for the 34 states where the agency will operate exchanges, saying that consumers need more time to budget for potentially higher health insurance costs.
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