The states new insurance marketplace website looks remarkably similar to the webpage of travel giant Expedia.
However, instead of checking for deals on hotels, airlines and car rentals, individuals working for small businesses in Florida will have the ability to compare health benefit plans.
And despite some hiccups during its three years in the planning phase, the effort by the Sunshine State -- which has led the fight against the White Houses imposed health care overhaul -- appears on schedule. It should be ready so that business can have a few months to shop the online tool for insurance coverage before the insurance marketplace is launched Jan. 1, 2013.
We think we have the potential to be the model for the nation. Never before has an exchange of this magnitude ... were building a superhighway where we anticipate thousands and thousands jumping on, said state Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, who chairs the Florida Health Choices board of directors.
The legislatively created public-private partnership will make Florida the third state -- joining Massachusetts and Utah -- to offer such an insurance marketplace.
Leaders of the marketplace effort say they would have liked to have been able to roll out the website earlier for agents, but they are confident that even as the first users uncover glitches, the system is ready to go.
Were going to make it better, were going to make it sharper, Bean said.
The marketplace requires small-business ownership to sign up, with the website used by employees who can each surf the site to propose packages they would prefer.From there, packages based on employees' desires would be crafted into quotes from several companies so that the business can decide on a group plan.
Unlike the federal Affordable Care Act, which proposes health care exchanges when it goes into place on Jan. 1, 2014, the states plan doesnt offer subsidies to low-income individuals buying coverage, nor does it provide tax credit to small businesses simply for covering their workers.
This is a year earlier, said Rose Naff, Florida Health Choices chief executive officer of the state marketplace. There are a lot of needs for that year.
On Wednesday at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando,board members got an overview of the website, created through a nine-year, $68 million contract with Xerox, signed at the end of May.
Pam Mims, executive consultant for Florida Health Care Plans of Holly Hill, was impressed that the site will do the calculations so she can estimate the costs of prescription drugs and medical visits under a wide range of coverage options.
(Comparing plans) and drug prices all in one place with just a couple of clicks I think is going to be very attractive, Mims said.
Im not a computer person, and looking at that, to me, was kind of showing the things everybody wants to see.
Naff said agents should be able to get their first look at the system in September, and within a month be able to start selling the service to small businesses -- those with at least four and as many as 50 employees.
Bean said ultimately the goal will be to expand the service to individuals and larger businesses, but for now the intent is to get the program up and running.
We want everybody, but to get a solid base, the vendor requested we put a minimum of four to build as much of a group plan as we could feel, Bean said.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
