Advocates for the federal health care law are celebrating the start of the countdown toward October 1 of next year, when 1.5 million uninsured Ohioans can start shopping a health insurance marketplace called an exchange. But there’s still a lot of uncertainty about who will set up and run that exchange.
Advocates for the law say Ohio has a lot of low-income people without internet connections or unlimited cell minutes, and a lot of people who don’t read, speak or understand English well, and many will never have had insurance. Kathy Levine is with Ohio Consumers for Health Coverage.
“Regardless of who runs the exchange in Ohio, our leaders have a responsibility to ensure that all Ohioans can get the information they need in a way they can understand it," says Kathy Levine with Ohio Consumers for Health Coverage.
Gov. John Kasich has said the state is leaning toward having the federal government run its required health insurance exchange, which will be ready on October 1, 2013. The state needs to notify the federal government of its plans by November 16. But Kasich and others are hoping the law will be overturned if enough opponents of it are elected 10 days before that deadline.