Americans in need of health insurance have a new online resource to help guide them through their options, courtesy of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

HealthCare.gov, which launched on July 1, allows health care consumers to easily view all of the ways they can obtain insurance.

“For too long, the insurance market has been confusing and hard to navigate,” said HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “HealthCare.gov makes it easy for consumers and small businesses to compare health insurance plans in both the public and the private sector.”

The creation of the website was mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the wide-ranging health reform legislation President Obama signed in March.

The site also provides links to two other online resources run by HHS: Healthfinder.gov, an inventory of health advice, and Hospital Compare, which allows users to compare the quality of care of hospitals throughout the country.

Customized Information

Users of HealthCare.gov can receive customized information based on their current circumstances.

In addition to having to provide their age and state of residency, users are asked to answer several short questions regarding their health status and the extent to which they are having difficulty paying for insurance.

Once those questions are answered, users are guided to a list of as many as eight possible insurance options, ranging from government programs (such as Medicaid, COBRA, and the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan) to private insurance plans based in their area.

Small businesses can also use the site to find ways to ensure coverage for their employees.

“PHI is working to get the word out to the thousands of uninsured direct-care workers — and their employers — who will benefit from this information,” said PHI government affairs director Carol Regan.

Additional and Upcoming Features

HealthCare.gov also includes a section explaining the new health reform bill, and how it will impact ordinary Americans. It features an interactive timeline showing how and when each new section of the law will be phased in.

Indeed, as health reform continues to be integrated into U.S. law, HealthCare.gov will be updated to reflect those changes.

Starting in October, it will include price estimates for private insurance plans; HHS plans to include performance data on each plan at a later date.

By 2014, when the entire health reform law takes full effect, state-based insurance exchanges will run their own websites allowing consumers to compare insurance plans.

– by Matthew Ozga

Kathy Greenlee, Assistant Secretary for Aging, HHS

Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary on Aging Kathy Greenlee released a statement on July 14 to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Older Americans Act (OAA), which Congress is expected to consider for reauthorization in 2011.

Greenlee notes that the number of Americans age 60 and over have more than doubled since President Lyndon Johnson signed the OAA into law in 1965.

She forecasts that “reliance on family members, who currently provide 80 percent of the long-term care assistance for our nation’s seniors, will increase,” since people age 80 and over are the fastest-growing age group and will need long-term care.

Greenlee also calls the Affordable Care Act (ACA) an opportunity “to harness the successes and progress of the last four decades to further improve the health and lives of older Americans and support their caregivers.”

PHI OAA Recommendations

PHI has made several recommendations (pdf) to the Administration on Aging (AoA) on the 2011 reauthorization of the OAA, including:

• improving training and employment for direct-care workers;
• incorporating workforce planning and assessment in the aging services network; and
• building infrastructure for self-directed services by strengthening matching service registries.

This year, PHI has been in conversation with AoA staff and advocates on how the reauthorization of the OAA could be the opportunity to advance matching-service registries, which facilitate connections between consumers who receive self-directed care in their homes and the independent direct-care workers who provide that care.

Greenlee said the OAA, in combination with the creation of Medicare and Medicaid just about two weeks later and Social Security in 1935, “have served as the foundation for economic, health, and social support for millions of seniors, individuals with disabilities and their families.”

– by Deane Beebe

The nonprofit organization SAGE (Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders) has received a federal grant to create the first national resource center on LGBT aging in the U.S. Read the full story

Henry Claypool

The Health and Human Services Coordinating Council on Community Living is off to a good start, said Henry Claypool, director of the HHS Office on Disability. Read the full story