This fall, the Oregon Health Insurance Exchange will release the application insurance companies must complete in order to sell plans through the Exchange. The Exchange has been working with insurance companies, business organizations, and consumers to develop the draft requirements and is now seeking public input.

How many plans do you think any particular insurance company should be able to offer on the exchange?
Starting in 2014, all plans in the individual and small group markets will be labeled as bronze, silver, gold, or platinum. The Exchange hopes to provide consumers with standardized plans in each of the cost-sharing levels that are easy to compare as well as offering innovative plan designs. At the same time, the Exchange does not want to overwhelm people with too many choices. They would like to hear from you about how many plans it should allow each insurance company to offer on the Exchange.

Options could include:

  • Three plans per cost-sharing level (bronze, silver, gold, platinum), for a total of 12 per carrier. (Example: if 10 companies participate in the Exchange, there would be a maximum of 120 plans available.)
  • Five plans per cost-sharing level, for a total of 20 per carrier (Example: If 10 companies participate in the Exchange, there would be a maximum of 200 plans available.)
  • No limit
  • Other amount

Please e-mail your comments by Friday, Sept. 14 at 5 p.m. to public.comment@orhix.org.

On the exchange website, you can also find links to the draft requirements for plans and draft quality measures that the Exchange will use to grade insurance companies. You can provide comments on those drafts as well. All comments must be received by Friday, Sept. 14 at 5 p.m. You can email your comments to public.comment@orhix.org.