As health care reform is ushered in, states are mulling over how to set up a new marketplace in which consumers can purchase health insurance that’s supposed to be cheaper than that offered by commercial insurers.
It’s still unclear what that health insurance market will look like in a few years, but businesses and health care experts are concerned that health care reform could have the unintended consequence of driving up the cost of insurance plans in the new market. But the state’s health care reform advocates say a new marketplace will indeed keep costs down.
This new marketplace, called an “exchange” by the federal health care reform law, will allow individuals and small businesses to compare plans and purchase the best one that fits their needs. States have until 2013 to create their own health insurance exchange.
