Beshear Creates State Health Exchange

Governor Steve Beshear has followed through on his promise to set up a state-run health insurance exchange in Kentucky.

The Affordable Care Act requires states to set up marketplaces in which residents can buy private insurance or sign up for Medicaid.

Through an executive order, Beshear created Kentucky's exchange today. The order establishes a new executive branch office, the Office of the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange. The office will be housed in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. According to a release, Beshear says the exchange will be paid for by the federal government until 2015. After that, revenues created by the exchange will fund the program.

In addition to setting up the exchange, Beshear is also creating an 11-person advisory board to oversee the exchange. Its members will be appointed by mid-August.

More than a dozen other states have begun setting up their exchanges.