Pennsylvania is unlikely to have a health insurance exchange (HIE) up and running when the individual insurance requirement mandated by the Affordable Care Act takes effect in 2014.
According to state insurance commissioner Michael Consedine, while Pennsylvania has laid considerable groundwork for developing its own exchange, its efforts have been hampered by lack of direction from the federal government on a number of key exchange-related issues.  An August letter from Mr. Consedine to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has not yet been answered.  In addition, the state legislature has not passed necessary enabling legislation.
If Pennsylvania does not establish its HIE by 2014, residents of the state will be served by an exchange established by the federal government.  The state would still be free to establish its own exchange at a later date.
Read more about the situation in Pennsylvania today, what the state has done so far, and the obstacles to completing developing of the HIE in this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report.