Manatt's Joel Ario, a managing director with Manatt Health, was quoted by Inside Health Policy on how states will be able to use federal exchange grant funding in 2015.
Inside Health Policy reports that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is allowing states to spend exchange grant funding to cover certain activities beyond this year, but they are prohibited from using the funding for exchange operating costs. The ACA requires the exchanges to be financially self-sustaining by the start of next year, but states are asking for flexibility in how the federal grant money can be spent.
Ario told Inside Health Policy that CMS is hewing to the interpretation of the law that the exchange establishment grants cannot be used for operations and maintenance, and the agency also is clearly saying that money can be used for certain things. It doesn't seem likely that any new states are going to seek significant new resources this year, he added.