He admits that "the next 13 months are gonna be a flurry of activity" as states, insurers and the insured prepare for the law to be fully enacted. Still, he's not sure January 1, 2014 is a hard-and-fast date, citing a recent delay in the deadline for states to tell Washington, DC whether they want in on the federal plan or if they plan to handle it on the state level.
Under Obamacare, states have two key decisions to make: (1) Whether to create state-run exchanges where people can shop for and select their health insurance coverage from an online marketplace, and (2) Whether to expand Medicaid coverage for low-income Americans. So far 16 states and DC have decided to set up exchanges, nine decided against it, and the remaining are undecided according to the Associated Press.
