Whoa. This is a very big deal here in the Wolverine State for a lot of reasons, both economic and political. Via the Detroit Free Press:
For years, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan operated an illegal monopoly, violating state and federal antitrust and consumer protection laws to drive up health insurance premiums while limiting reimbursements to medical providers and making it more difficult for Michiganders to access quality health care, state Attorney General Dana Nessel alleges in a new, landmark lawsuit.
Calling it "arguably the most consequential antitrust case ever filed by a state against a health insurance company," Nessel sued Michigan's largest insurer Thursday, Oct. 8, in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
Thirteen years ago, during the very first ACA Open Enrollment Period, Oregon was one of 15 states which attempted to operate their own fully state-based marketplace SBM) under the new law, calling it "Cover Oregon."
Cover Oregon poised to switch to federal insurance exchange
Alex Pettit, the state's top information-technology official, recommended Cover Oregon move to the federal exchange at an advisory committee meeting Thursday.
Oregon should pull the plug on the beleaguered Cover Oregon health insurance exchange and switch to the federal exchange, a technological advisory committee recommended Thursday.
The move is considered almost certain to be adopted by the Cover Oregon board, which meets Friday.
Long-time readers know that I've long been an advocate of more states breaking off of the federal ACA exchange (HealthCare.Gov) and establishing their own versions instead. While there are certainly benefits to utilizing the federal exchange (standardized interface, user experience, branding & marketing), there are also numerous benefits to states operating their own platforms.
In the early days of the ACA, in addition to the infamous technical meltdown of HealthCare.Gov, many of the state-based exchanges (SBEs) of the time included horror stories in which the 1.0 versions of SBEs either failed miserably, cost an insane amount and/or both. The most famous examples include...
Limited-time marketplace transition year Special Enrollment Period
This year, with the multitude of unique factors impacting access and affordability, Get Covered Illinois is using its authority as a state-based marketplace to offer a limited-time Special Enrollment Period for customers previously enrolled in a 2025 health plan through HealthCare.gov.
Who Qualifies for this Special Enrollment Period?
To qualify for this limited-time Special Enrollment Period, the enrollee must:
have been automatically renewed in a 2026 health plan through Get Covered Illinois, and
have not made an active plan selection or terminated/canceled their coverage during this past Open Enrollment Period, and
have not claimed their Get Covered Illinois account by February 1, 2026.
How long is this Special Enrollment Period available?
Amid federal health care changes negatively impacting Americans, Get Covered Illinois is here to help.
CHICAGO – Get Covered Illinois kicked off 2026 open enrollment and launched its “Here to Help” campaign across the state.
Open enrollment, which began on November 1 and runs through January 15, is the annual opportunity for Illinoisans to enroll in, renew, or change their health insurance plans. Nearly 466,000 Illinoisans purchased health coverage through Get Covered Illinois during open enrollment last year, a 17% increase from the previous year.
This year, Illinoisans will experience a new marketplace. Enrollees will apply for and enroll directly on GetCoveredIllinois.gov now that Illinois has officially transitioned to a state-based marketplace. They will also have access to increased support that is more tailored to their needs.
I've already noted that 17 states have launched window shopping for the 2026 ACA Open Enrollment Period (OEP), allowing residents of the following states to plug their household information into their states ACA exchange website to see just how much their net health insurance premiums are going to increase starting January 1st, 2026:
OK, this is a bit embarrassing, but I just realized that the last time I wrote anything significant about about Illinois joining 20 other states in moving off of the federally-facilitated ACA marketplace (HealthCare.Gov) onto their own fully state-based platform (Get Covered Illinois) was nearly 2 1/2 years ago, when the state legislature passed the bill and Gov. Pritzker signed it into law!
For obvious reasons it feels a little weird to be writing about it at this particular moment in time, but the fact remains that yes, Illinois will be making the move starting November 1st, 2025. Here's a formal press release from August:
Get Covered Illinois Transitions to a State-Based Marketplace this November
In response, a couple of weeks later the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a statement about the actions they're taking to resolve the issue,
Just yesterday I noted that the Michigan state senate has passed a bill to establish a state-based ACA exchange, joining 21 other states (Georgia is scheduled to launch theirs this fall, and Illinois in time for the 2026 Open Enrollment Period). The bill now moves to the state House, where I'm expecting it to pass and be signed into law by Gov. Whitmer without too much controversy. If so, Michigan would also split off of the federal exchange in time for the 2026 OEP.
Well, it turns out that another state may end up beating Michigan to the punch, and it's probably the last state you'd expect it to happen in: Mississippi!
Cut to 2024: Michigan Democrats now hold control of the state Senate as well as (barely) the House...and Democratic Representative Kevin Hertel is now Senator Kevin Hertel, who also happens to be the Health Policy Committee Chair...and one of his priorities this session, according to his latest constituent newsletter, is indeed to move Michigan to a state-based ACA exchange:
Legislative Updates
Expanding Access to Health Care Through a State-Based Exchange
