A Tale of Two States
Missouri:
Looking for the new health insurance marketplace, set to open in this state in two months, is like searching for a unicorn.
The marketplace, or exchange, being established by the federal government under President Obama’s health care law has no visible presence here, no local office, no official voice in the state and no board of local advisers. It is being run like a covert operation, with no marketing or detailed information about its products or their prices.
Colorado:
Commercials have already run here that suggest buying health coverage through the state’s new insurance market, Connect for Health Colorado, will feel like winning the World Series. The market’s employees are traveling the state to explain how the market will work, often in T-shirts with the message, “Got Insurance?” In the coming weeks, 400 guides will be trained to help the uninsured sign up for coverage, targeting everyone from truckers to transgender people.
Source: NYT.
So, the Feds can’t figure out how to set up an exchange, but the States can?
This will look bad. The States that refuse to participate will be a mess, the States that are complicit will look great. Who do you think will bear the blame publicly? Republicans.
Instead of who should really be getting the blame: Obama.
I’m sure that there will be little recognition of the outrageous cost for only marginal gain.
Or for many, outrageous cost at a loss in quality.
From the NYT article, people are worried about affording even subsidies coverage through the Colorado exchange…
subsidized*
I really am not intending to be callous, but the disparity in participation could really be beneficial to those of us in red states. I wonder how many of the highest users will try to move to ObamaCare friendly states?
Maybe that is why Hawaii is shipping off all their homeless people. They realize what kind of a burden it will be…
That raises an interesting question about unintended consequences. What can States do to discourage higher users from living there?
I read the report last week, and focused on rates for a 40 year old, with a family.
The median rate seemed to be about $14,000 a year, for a family of four, with a $25,000 family deductible.
The report states several times this is, except for 5 states, insurance which one must prove health for.
Can you imagine what this will cost for guaranteed-issue?
Don Levit
The Colorado exchange is blowing through $177 million in taxpayer start-up funds. That buys a lot of tee shirts. At present they have a $14 million marketing budget for a state with slightly more than 5 million people.
The 12 exchange offerings that have been filed are basically gatekeeper plans with limited networks. Respected hospitals in metro Denver are often out-of-network.
The exchange employees aren’t exactly traveling the state. They’re hiring “street teams” for $35,000 a month.