Businesses at mercy of states, not Obama, in healthcare

The Affordable Care Act mandating marketplaces, also called exchanges, is a national law requiring the uninsured to purchase health insurance that will take effect Jan. 1. But the cost of that insurance, how extensive the benefits are, and the number of insurance companies that will opt or be chosen to sell on those those marketplaces are all going to depend on the state a person happens to live in. And even then, there will be variations within regions of some individual states, complicating an already complicated new system. How well—or poorly—a given state's exchange functions in coming years in providing affordable healthcare to its population could directly affect how businesses view that state's attractiveness as a place to open up shop or expand.