In mid-November, the federal government extended the deadline to February for states to decide what to do about health exchanges — the place where individuals and businesses can shop for health insurance. There should be an exchange in every state, and they should be up and running by October 2013, ready to enroll people for Jan. 1, 2014 plans.

As of the end of November, 18 states have declared a state-based exchange; six are planning for a partnership exchange (the state working with the federal Department of Health and Human Services); 10 are undecided; and 17 will default to the federal exchange. This map is from Kaiser Family Foundation’s StateHealth.org site. Click the link to see where your state stands.

—Stacey Freed is a senior editor at REMODELING.