The Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act makes its implementation much more certain. Barring repeal by a new Congress and new President, a new health insurance system will be in full implementation by 2014. In this article we are going to examine one of the most talked about, and least understood, new provisions – Health Care Exchanges.
So what do we know about Health Care Exchanges? We know that Maryland is, according to the Maryland Community Gazette, “Out in front on health care reform” and that “State leaders were wise in setting up an exchange”. We also know that Louisiana in the words of Governor Bobby Jindal, “will not set up an exchange” despite the Supreme Court decision. So now we know it’s controversial, but what exactly is a Health Care Exchange and why should the average consumer care?
A Health Care Exchange at its core is just a website. In fact, it’s a web site very similar to Health Insurance Online. It’s a place where you can compare competing health insurance plans from different carriers. Here are some important factors to consider:
- Each state is eligible to set up its own exchange. Some may and some may not. If a state does not consumers in that state will be able to use a federal health care exchange site.
- The plans must meet the minimum standards of the Affordable Care Act. That means the plans may be very different than the types of plans you see now on our site.
- There will be four levels of plans divided into nifty metallic categories: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Of course just like the metals themselves the plans cost more based on their value – in health insurance terms that means coverage.
- Unlike today, if you don’t have a government approved health insurance plan from some other source – like an employer – you MUST purchase one of the Exchange plans.
- Consumers that have to purchase a health insurance plan but can’t afford to pay for it will be subsidized through a complex formula of cost-sharing and premium subsidies.
So now we know that a Health Care Exchange is really a shopping comparison engine like Health insurance Online, Travelocity, and Orbitz why all the fuss? The refusal of some states to build an exchange is more of a political statement than anything else. The Exchange is coming and you are probably going to have to use one, so get ready.
Thank you Health Insurance Online for a clear and concise explanation of our President’s health care exchanges. I can’t wait to use one.
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I usually do not create a great deal of responses, but I looked at some of the comments here What
is a Health Care Exchange? | Health Insurance Articles, Health Care News.
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of every one of your social sites like your twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile?
With havin so much content do you ever run into any problems of plagorism
or copyright violation? My blog has a lot of
completely unique content I’ve either authored myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the web without my permission. Do you know any solutions to help reduce content from being stolen? I’d genuinely appreciate it.