State insurance rate, network info coming to website
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HARRISBURG – More information about health plans Pennsylvanians can shop for on a federally run online exchange is expected to be available today as a key element of the 2010 health care law unfolds.
Lorraine Ryan, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the information should be available by 8 a.m., giving the uninsured the ability to start enrolling in health insurance plans available through the online exchange.
That information will include how much each of the 56 approved plans costs and which doctors and hospitals each one covers. However, their choice will be limited by where they live and the type of plan they want.
Coverage begins Jan. 1 and the first enrollment period will last until March 31.
The federal government’s website, www.healthcare.gov, will be the online entry point for Pennsylvania’s insurance exchange.
The exchange is designed to make it simple for the uninsured to shop for private health insurance by setting up a direct comparison among plans and defraying the cost with a tax credit for people who meet income qualifications.
In addition to being able to compare plans side-by-side, residents are supposed to be able to find out if they qualify for Medicaid, tax credits that reduce the cost of insurance premiums or reductions in a plan’s out-of-pocket costs like deductibles and copayments, Ryan said.
The targets are mostly the working poor, young people who are disengaged or those who gave up their insurance because of the cost.
Among those engaging in the effort to spread the word are advocacy organizations that support the law, health care professionals, insurers and not-for-profit agencies that routinely help the poor get public assistance. Gov. Tom Corbett’s administration has remained on the sidelines during the process and the Republican declined the opportunity to have a state-run exchange.
Education campaigns are focused on going door-to-door in high-poverty areas, setting up offices in community health centers and holding question-and-answer sessions at public libraries and elsewhere.
The Corbett administration spent virtually nothing to market it and received nothing from the federal government to market it, either, in contrast to other states that have embraced the overhaul.