NEWS FLASH

Alabama Republican: Health Exchange ‘Opportunity To Make Alabama A Better State’ | Alabama State Rep. Jim McClendon (R), the co-chairman of the commission set up to study the feasibility of the state’s new health care exchange, said Friday that it presented lawmakers with a “unique opportunity to make Alabama a better state to live and work,” the Montgomery Advertiser reported. Some Republican governors have avoided taking action on the state-based exchanges, which must be in place by January 2014. But Alabama Gov. Jay Bentley (R) created the commission in June, and if McClendon’s remarks are any indication, at least some Alabama Republicans are serious about using the benefits of the Affordable Care Act to help the 14 percent of Alabamians who are not covered by insurance.