The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced that the website to help individuals and small businesses in finding affordable health insurance is being established on July 1. The website is part of changes being implemented through the Affordable Care Act passed this year.

According the information from the HHS fact sheet, the website will continue to evolve, as it is being implemented in stages. For instance, in October of this year, HHS plans to include pricing information on insurance options.

The information on insurance coverage to be provided should include the individual health coverage offered by insurance providers (plan types, services, network providers, links, and contract information); Medicare coverage; Medicaid coverage (including eligibility information and services available in the states, and contact information for the programs); Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage; state high-risk pool coverage (including contact information for the pools to determine eligibility, and coverage limitations); and small group markets for small businesses.

In addition to information on public programs, the website will also have more information on small business tax credits, and on the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program, providing coverage to non-Medicare retirees. A consumer-education section will be added to assist in understanding insurance terminology and how the insurance marketplace operates.

Public Comment Invited

HHS has an interim final rule for the categories of information that will be collected and the data that HHS will be requiring from insurance providers and the states and high-risk pools. Starting May 6, the public can comment on the interim final rule electronically through www.regulations.gov. Comments should be provided by 5 p.m. 30 days after the rule was published in the Federal Register on May 5. Those commenting should refer to file code DHHS-9997-IFC. Written comments can also be submitted by mail to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services, Attention: DHHS-9997-IFC, P.O. Box 8014, Baltimore, MD 21244-8014.

Training to Be Provided

HHS has further noted that the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight will provide training for the states and for health insurance issuers in individual and small group markets regarding data collection for the website. The training will be provided by webinar and conference call on May 7. More information can be found on the HHS website: http://www.hhs.gov/ociio/gatheringinfo/

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