” Beam me up Scotty!”

  – Captain Kirk

Okay Trekkies, I realize Captain Kirk didn’t utter those exact words but it is the phrase that comes to mind whenever I hear the word “web portal“ bandied about.  The new health care reform web portal (you’ll be able to find it at healthcare.gov), slated for launch on Thursday  (July 1st), is designed to provide information about health coverage options available in each state.  I like to picture it as the entrance point for consumers into the mother-ship of health care coverage options in a post health reform universe.  The web portal will need to beam people up to the right quadrant (i.e., match them up with the appropriate public or private insurance options).

On Thursday, one of the key features CCF staff will be looking for is whether the web portal helps to connect families to coverage through Medicaid and CHIP.  This is one of the very best ways to help families secure affordable coverage for their children right away (and, in some instances, their parents, too). We’ll be evaluating the new portal based on whether or not it is easy for families to find information on how to enroll their children in CHIP or Medicaid without having to first navigate through the private insurance plan sections of the portal.

We’ll also be looking at whether the new portal reflects some of the additional suggestions made by our Senior Program Director, Dawn Horner, in comments on the proposed regulations such as, does it:

• Create a state-level income calculator so families can figure out whether or not they are likely to be eligible for Medicaid or CHIP.
• Provide users with a way to provide feedback and get questions answered so the web portal is interactive.
•  Include information on state or locally funded coverage options for those whose income is not quite low enough to qualify for CHIP or Medicaid.
•  Collect statistics to determine how effective the portal is at referring eligible families to affordable coverage options.

When it is launched this week, the web portal is expected to be a bare-bones “first generation“ site intended to start the process of linking consumers with accurate information on public and private health coverage options.  We are hopeful that, even if this first iteration does not incorporate all of these recommendations, the final web portal regulations (that will be released later this year) will do so. Once those regulations are final, HHS will eventually turn the operation over to a private entity to create a more comprehensive portal – all the more reason to make it clear in the regulations how the system should operate for low- and moderate-income families.  We don’t want to send them off to boldly go where no man has gone before without a good guide.