MONTPELIER, Vt. -
Vermont has preliminary approval to start enrollment for its health care exchange by October.
The Vermont Health Connect, as it will be called, is one of 19 other state blueprints just approved by the federal government. Vermont faces 40 more milestones before October to get the program off the ground, creating the government-run insurance marketplace. The state says this is an important indicator that Vermont is on the right track.
"It represents the federal government's expression of confidence that we'll be ready to have the exchange working on October 1st, 2013, so people can begin shopping," said Mark Larson of the Vermont Health Access Department.
All companies with 50 or fewer employees will be mandated to enter the exchange by January of next year.
