Covered California: a complex start up
I’ve read everything I’ve been able to get my hands on and I still have questions. Part of the problem comes from the complexity of health insurance, federal regulations, state laws and uniqueness of each person’s employment and family situation. While the folks working on implementing Covered California have their arms wrapped around the big flow chart of “if this, then that” conditions, most of us are still scratching our heads.
Peter Lee answers questions
Mr. Lee’s open question forum was just the tip of the outreach and education efforts to get Californians up to speed. I was a little surprised that within the 11/2 hour window only 25 questions were asked. This might have been a function of publicity about the event and the slightly clumsy Reddit platform. Regardless of the reasons for the poor response, considering there are 5 million uninsured Californians that need health insurance, the questions were varied, reasonably well answer by Mr. Lee, and a good sampling of concerns about the exchange. Below is a sampling of the question and answers from the Reddit forum.
So much to absorb, so little time
What the Q & A session represented to me was the incredible amount depth and background future Assisters and Navigators will need to properly help people make the best health insurance choice. Mr. Lee was at a disadvantage because he doesn’t know all the insurance carriers and various specific plans that will be offered to both individuals and small groups when Covered Launches in October 2013.
Fighting current confusing market place
I have to applaud Covered California’s efforts to get ahead of the information and public relations curve without having the whole house finished yet. The health insurance market place is under going a monumental shift with health care reform. Consumers and businesses are still imprinted with all the insurance company profit maximizing rules and restrictions that make selecting, acquiring and actually using their insurance confusing.
Consequently, all consumers are a little baffled by guarantee issue, no rate ups for pre-existing conditions, tax credits for affordability and streamlined benefit summaries. All the questions asked should help Covered California gauge the level understanding and potentially help in their website development.
Will the roll out of Covered California be smooth?
No start up or established business is ever free of a few hiccups in support or implementation. Heck, every time Face Book changes their news feed or profile page you hear howls of protests and declarations from users to abandon the service. No one should expect Covered California to have a completely glitch free roll out. But if the director can jump on a social media network and answer questions… that bodes well for the spirit and hopefully the flexibility of the program.