Health Insurance Marketplace Update

With less than two month to go until open enrollment begins in the Mississippi health insurance marketplace, as provided for under the Affordable Care Act, it might be helpful to get an update on where things stand.

Rather than do a lot of reading about an issue that we have heard so much about over the past five years, the good folks at the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation developed a short, objective video of what is in store for the health marketplaces when they come online next year.

Another nugget from the Kaiser Family Foundation is an interactive map, which you can find here, that shows what Mississippi and the rest of the country would look like if each state expanded Medicaid coverage for those who cannot obtain coverage from the state marketplace. As you can see, nearly 250,000 Mississippians would have coverage, including roughly 9,000 in my home of Rankin County.

It merits mentioning that state Insurance Commissioner and Fire Marshall Mike Chaney worked tirelessly over the last few years to establish a state-based insurance exchange. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful in in efforts due to the intransigence of Governor Bryant. Recently, Chaney was able to work with insurance providers to establish coverage in all 82 counties in the state.