Beginning in 2015 under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), states have the option to create a basic health program to provide coverage to individuals with incomes between 133 and 200 percent of the federal poverty level, in lieu of having these individuals get coverage and premium subsidies through the state’s health insurance exchange. The plan would exist outside of the health insurance exchange and would include the essential health benefits as defined under the ACA. Cost-sharing under this plan would also be limited. If states choose to offer this plan, the federal government will provide states 95 percent of what it would have paid to subsidize these enrollees in the health insurance exchange. So far, only Minnesota and New York have chosen to implement a basic health program.