US government introduces new Website, HealtCare.gov
Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) today announced the launch of Healthcare.gov, a new website that will provide consumers in Connecticut and across the country with a “one-stop shop” for information about the many health insurance coverage options available to them.
HealthCare.gov allows users to input their personal information—for instance, New York residency, under-26 age bracket—and browse and compare available coverage plans. Let’s play around with this. So, for our fictive 22-year-old New York resident, option No. 1 suggests attempting to seek (or keep) coverage through a parent’s plan for the next four years. Check, and check. But what if you’re a senior who has a medical condition but is not sufficiently covered by Medicare? Option No. 1, in that case: use Medicaid to help pay for Medicare.
“The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act not only helps ensure that all Americans have access to stable, secure, and affordable health care coverage, but also gives them the tools and information they need to make informed choices about their health care coverage,” said Dodd. “We have turned the tables on the insurance companies and finally made the health insurance market a buyer’s market. Now, consumers in Connecticut can log on to Healthcare.gov, answer a few simple questions about their health care coverage needs, and find clear, easy-to-understand information about their insurance options.”
Anyway, aesthetically, the site is clean, lucid, and easy to navigate. If you disagree, click one of the little yellow “Was This Page Helpful?” feedback boxes scattered throughout the site and say so. “Tell us what you like, what you don’t, what’s missing, and what we can do to improve. We’re listening. This is your site, not ours,” wrote Todd Park, the chief technology officer of HealthCare.gov in the site’s introduction. Even if you click “yes,” to the question of whether or not the page was helpful, you’re asked how it could get even better.
According to the White House, visitors to Healthcare.gov can find the following:
* Approximately 500 pages of content
* Data for more than 1,000 insurance carriers and 5,561 open products (2,030 in the individual health insurance market and 3,531 in the small employer health insurance market)
* Information on every Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program in the country
* Information on the Pre-Existing Condition Plan in every state.
* Billions of choices. Visitors can answer a few basic questions, and the site’s insurance finder automatically sorts through a huge catalog of public and private coverage options to help them identify the ones that are right for them (with billions of potential personal scenarios supported).
Dodd played a key role in writing and passing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in March. Dodd led the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s consideration of health care reform legislation and worked closely with President Obama and leaders from the House and Senate on the final legislation.
Anyway, aesthetically, the site is clean, lucid, and easy to navigate. If you disagree, click one of the little yellow “Was This Page Helpful?” feedback boxes scattered throughout the site and say so. “Tell us what you like, what you don’t, what’s missing, and what we can do to improve. We’re listening. This is your site, not ours,” wrote Todd Park, the chief technology officer of HealthCare.gov in the site’s introduction. Even if you click “yes,” to the question of whether or not the page was helpful, you’re asked how it could get even better.
