(Bloomberg) — Mississippi’s application to run its own health-insurance exchange was denied by the Obama administration, which cited a dispute between the state’s insurance commissioner and governor over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The Department of Health and Human Services will reject the application and encourage the state to instead join a federal partnership for running the exchanges, Gary Cohen, director of the department’s Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, said in a letter to Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney. Exchanges are marketplaces to sell health insurance to people without it, set to open Oct. 1.
