The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA, P.L. 111-148) allows certain individuals and small businesses to buy health insurance through state exchanges, beginning on October 1, 2013. The exchanges are not themselves insurers, but rather are special marketplaces where insurance firms may sell health policies that meet set, federal guidelines. As of September 2013, 16 states and the District of Columbia had secured Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) approval to create their own exchanges, 7 to enter into partnership exchanges, 26 to have federally facilitated exchanges, and 1 to have a state-based Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP)/federally facilitated individual exchange. An estimated 24 million individuals are expected to secure coverage through the exchanges by 2022.