Health insurance exchanges are a mandate of the Health Insurance Reform Act, which requires states to provide access to health insurance policies that small businesses and individuals may otherwise not be able to access. To assist the state of Washington in creating their exchange, a series of eight focus groups were held around the state – two of which occurred here in Southwest Washington last week.
The purpose of the focus group was to learn about the manner small business currently accesses information about health insurance and how that might change given the access to information through the exchange once it is established.
Attending the earlier of the two area focus groups were 17 small business owners from as far north as Lewis County and west from Pacific County. Of those present, about half were currently providing insurance to their workers.
While the Act mandates states to create an exchange, it became obvious at the session that there is no clear direction on how to make the insurance plans portable, state to state. Additionally, many questions remain on exactly what will be offered and how prices will compare to what is currently available to small businesses.
A report on what was learned in the focus groups will be available in January.
The focus groups were conducted by Milliman Consulting, one of the world's largest independent actuarial and consulting firms. Founded in Seattle in 1947, Milliman has 54 offices in key locations around the world.
