The Obama Administration has announced plans to launch online health care marketplaces in 26 states. The online marketplaces, dubbed healthcare exchanges, come as part of President Obama's Medicaid reform and have found strong opposition in Republican-dominated states.
The Department of Health and Human Services says the exchange plan will bring the option of federally subsidized private health care packages to low-income families. The 26 participating states have opted to hand control of the exchanges to the federal government while the other 24 states and the District of Columbia have opted to either run their own exchange or work in concert with Washington.
"No matter where a qualified consumer lives, he or she will have access to coverage through a marketplace," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of the exchanges, which will open for business on October 1.
She adds that other states including Ohio and Utah "have suggested their own approaches to contributing toward plan management in their marketplace in 2014."
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.