On April 9th, the Senate Finance Committee held a confirmation hearing for Marilyn Tavenner to be the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Committee members submitted additional questions to Tavenner post-hearing on topics ranging from consumer outreach in state insurance Exchanges to pediatric dental services. Health Reform GPS has compiled a list of the Affordable Care Act related questions submitted by the Senate Finance Committee members. The list contains the name of the Senator asking the question, the question number, and the relevant ACA topic addressed.

A study released by the Council for Affordable Health Insurance (CAHI) found that in 2012, there were 2,271 state insurance laws on the books. According to CAHI, Rhode Island had the most state-mandated insurance laws at 69, with Idaho having the fewest at 13. CAHI found that the national number of state insurance mandates has grown over 167% in the last 20 years, and this increase in noted as being a contributor to the rising costs of health care.

Health insurance exchanges form the backbone of the private insurance reforms called for in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as they will create a marketplace in each state for small employers and individuals without job-based health insurance to buy comprehensive health coverage, with premium subsidies available for those with low or moderate incomes. As of May 2012, 13 states, together with the District of Columbia, had taken legal action to establish exchanges, through legislation or executive order. State implementing laws are essential to the translation of broad federal policies into specific state and market practices. Overall, the laws in the 14 jurisdictions vary, but they tend to show a common approach of according exchanges much flexibility in how they will operate and what standards they will apply to the insurance products sold. In all states, these "threshold policies" will be followed by policy decisions, expressed through regulations, guidelines, and health plan contracting and performance standards. A new Commonwealth Fund issue brief analyzes the choices being made by the jurisdictions to begin establishing exchanges.