26 states completely opt out of state run exchanges, seven other states would only take on part of the task

From the Washington Times:

The backbone of President Obama’s health care law is taking shape, with 26 states choosing to let the federal government run the online insurance markets mandated by his signature reforms instead of keeping the job in-house or partnering with the feds. 

The Department of Health and Human Services had encouraged states to run their own markets, or “exchanges,” that help the uninsured find coverage. Only 17 states and the District of Columbia took on the task, while seven states decided to split the duty with the Obama administration, according to a breakdown by the Kaiser Family Foundation. . . .

This is putting it mildly.

“It’s not what the drafters of the bill had hoped would happen,” Timothy Jost, a health law expert at Washington and Lee University School of Law, said of the outcome on Friday. . . . 

There could be a lot of court cases determining whether there are now limits on what the Federal government can spend on health care in those states.