Statewide Iowa — The State of Iowa has built a new website that will be used if federal officials approve a new approach to helping about 72-thousand Iowans, including many here in northwest Iowa, buy new individual health insurance policies.
Chance McElhaney, a spokesman for the Iowa Insurance Commissioner, says if the feds approve Iowa’s waiver, those Iowans will use a new STATE website to see if they’re eligible to buy insurance from one of the two companies that have agreed to sell 2018 policies.
However, those 72-thousand Iowans won’t be able to BUY insurance on that website on November 1st. McElhaney says a consumer will answer a number of questions there to determine if they are eligible to buy an individual health insurance policy through the process set up by the state.
That means — if Iowa gets the federal waiver to set up this system — those 72-thousand Iowans will have to wait for delivery of the letter and use the code in that letter to buy policies from either Medica or Wellmark. McElhaney says his agency has “marketing ready to go” if Iowa gets the federal waiver — to help the 72-thousand Iowans navigate the new system.
On Tuesday, Governor Kim Reynolds told reporters that if Iowa gets the go-ahead to launch its alternative plan for individual insurance policies, she’s confident the state website will handle all the traffic from those 72-thousand Iowans.
You can find visit the new site by CLICKING HERE.
