Hospitals are graded on the new healthcare.gov website. Image from Flickr.
As a part of the changes mandated by the new health insurance reform bill, healthcare.gov launched today. The healthcare.gov site is a search engine and advice website that focuses on health insurance options of everyone in the country. The website will help individuals save money, but even more so in the next few years.
The mandate for healthcare.gov
A part of the new health care bill was the mandate for a healthcare website to be created. This website was supposed to be half insurance search engine and half informational. The bill said users should be able to use the website to find out what options are open for them to get insurance. Though government-supported healthcare options will not be available until 2014, the search engine is already up and running.
Helping decipher insurance options on healthcare.gov
The user interface of healthcare.gov is surprisingly simple. The site asks a few questions at a time to help whittle down options. The site also has questions and answers about many basic insurance questions, including the state health insurance exchanges. There is also an “understanding the new law” section that outlines all the coming changes with the new health care law. There is also information on the quality and outcomes at hospitals across the country. In short, healthcare.gov is aiming to be the ultimate web destination for healthcare information.
The benefits of healthcare.gov
One of the biggest complaints of most health insurance customers has been the difficulty of “shopping around” for the best prices. By compiling information on health insurance options and prices in one place, this website can definitely help people save money. Additionally, the website has feedback options that will help improve the website. This way, the healthcare.gov site will be ready for prime-time when the new health care exchanges are created. This will also help people save even more money by identifying the best places for them to reduce their insurance costs — from prevention to plans.
