Gauging Health Care Exchange Era: Consumers Need to be Patient in a Win-Win Situation

In October 2013, states will officially start a state, federal or state-federal exchange for the first time. Being a new format that is being introduced, it might take some time for the consumers and the payers interacting on the exchange to attain a smooth level of functioning. The consumers need to have some patience to experience the entire range of benefits associated with purchasing health insurance from an exchange. Payers are already developing connector programs or medical insurance software solutions that help them get connected with the state or federal exchanges. These software solutions, including insurance claims software or insurance agency software, are being deployed for the first time.

Therefore, some degree of patience has to be borne by the software solutions vendors, they payers and the officials managing the exchange and the consumers. The emphasis should be to approach the exchange buying format with a mindset that this online marketplace is positioned to benefit you. Yes, being in its introductory phase it might have some flaws but none of them can be big enough to defeat the eventual purpose of making health insurance easier and more affordable for you.

If history is to be believed, it augurs rather well for the health exchanges. A very similar format is already being used in the state of Massachusetts where the Connector program has found favor with the people and government agencies alike. Though this is a bit different from the kind of state, federal exchanges that are about to be established, it has some fundamental similarities that cannot be ignored.

If the present mood has to be judged, it augurs even better for the health exchanges. This is because insurers are largely preparing for the new online marketplaces by introducing some fundamental changes in the way they function. For instance, many of the payers are busy deploying medical insurance software solution that will help them develop a web based online marketplace for themselves that are being called private exchanges. These exchanges are essentially portals where the consumer buying experience is given maximum importance and the entire range of health insurance offerings from a single or multiple carriers is listed. These private exchanges are most likely to have state-of-the-art consumer tools like an insurance quote engine or Medicare quote engine. This means that for buying even the subsidized health coverage plans, insurers are making sure that consumers are comforted.