The Wisconsin Office of Health Care Reform has developed a prototype website for a health insurance exchange. The exchange is an online marketplace where individuals and small businesses can easily compare health plans and purchase health insurance, beginning in 2014.
This online prototype is simply a starting point for the individual insurance marketplace that will evolve based on future input from consumers and policy guidance at the state and federal levels. State officials are inviting people to try out the prototype and provide feedback. The website is designed to be a portal for people buying private insurance and for those eligible for Medicaid or BadgerCare Plus. The health care reform law requires states to implement a “no wrong door” policy for enrolling people who need health insurance.
There are five scenarios to simulate the exchange experience in the individual marketplace in this prototype. Please choose the scenario that best matches your experience, walk through the selection process, and provide comments on what was useful and where you needed more information.
The WI Department of Health Services also plans to develop a prototype exchange experience for small businesses.
Click here to take the test drive.
On a related note, Governor Doyle said in a recent radio interview that the groundwork he laid while in office means Wisconsin could be among the first to implement a health insurance exchange, if the next administration decides to move ahead. However, DHS staff have been taking care to make it clear that the prototype website is just one possible model and that the decisions about how Wisconsin proceeds will be up to the incoming governor and legislators.
Jon Peacock
