HHS puts final touches on exchange sites before launch (USA News)

WASHINGTON — More than three years after Congress passed the Affordable Care Act and President Obama marked it into law, the most dubious bit of the law starts Tuesday — the necessity that uninsured Americans purchase health protection — and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the legislature is prepared.

"We're exceptionally amped up for tomorrow," Sebelius said Monday. "Shutdown or no shutdown, we're prepared to go."

"The Affordable Care Act is pushing ahead," President Obama said Monday in a declaration.

Beginning at 8 a.m., guests to healthcare.gov, the national government's human services site, can go how to shop for and purchase health protection as a component of the law, Sebelius said.

Those destinations will open regardless of the possibility that Congress and the White House can't concur on a legislature using arrange, Sebelius said. A significant part of the battle over the using bill concentrates on the law and congressional Republicans' endeavors to either execute it or evacuate subsidizing for it.

The stakes for the health trades are high, and there have been a few discovers the way. In July, the organization acquiesced to the wishes of business assemblies and deferred the prerequisite that head honchos with more than 50 specialists give health protection to their worker or pay a fine. Organizations had whined the expense and protection necessities were excessively muddled and troublesome to actualize in time for the Jan. 1. deadline.
While the organization called the postponement of the business order an acknowledgment of genuine issues, it likewise encouraged the law's adversaries. They called it an extraordinary interest break and utilized it, the distance through Monday, as motivation to defer the opening of the trades Tuesday.

White House authorities and Sebelius have said the trades, which are state- and elected run sites where individuals can search for and purchase protection, need to select something like 7 million Americans to make whatever remains of the Affordable Care Act succeed. The trades open Tuesday and the necessity for people to have protection begins Jan. 1. The trades will remain open for individuals to purchase protection until March 31, 2014.

HHS authorities published some new parts for the trades Monday, incorporating:

• Uninsured Americans who aren't certain what amount cash they will make one year from now however who accept they will get a subsidy to help purchase protection can pick a more modest subsidy and afterward get whatever remains of it over at charge time provided that they think little of. Individuals who win up to 400% of the elected neediness level are qualified for money related serve to pay for protection.

• Insurance customers won't pay the trades anything. Rather, the site will help them pick an arrangement and afterward head off straightforwardly to that want to pay by going to a private safety net provider's site or making a telephone call.

• Customers won't need to surrender any individual medicinal 

Sebelius said she expects some "glitches" with the new technology, though she said it will be manageable and quickly addressed.
"We will fix them and move on," she said.
In a recent interview, Sebelius said she would consider success to be more children with insurance, as well as women who don't have to pay more simply for being a woman. On Monday, she told the story of a nurse who thought she had good insurance, but when her son was born with a heart defect, the family found itself bankrupted by deductibles and co-pays as the baby went in for five surgeries. In the future, Sebelius said, there won't be unexpected costs.
Those who do not have insurance in 2014 will pay a penalty, which will be paid in 2015 after a person files 2014 tax returns.
Here's how the new website works:
• The site asks what language you speak, and then offers assistance in 150 languages from Spanish to Mandarin.
• Visitors will fill out a web-based form, similar to ordering airline tickets or a book online. They will provide their names, the names of their dependents and other basic information, such as an address and Social Security number. Officials stressed the security of the system, which is similar to the online site used by Medicare recipients. This will also determine a consumer's eligibility for a subsidy.
• The site asks questions about what kind of insurance coverage a customer wants or needs. It then provides options based on a customer's preferences. Consumers may save different plans in a "shopping cart," just as those who use online sites such as Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com. That allows consumers to decide at a later time if they want to make a purchase.
• Plans can be compared on a side-by-side basis, which allows consumers to see what private insurer is selling the plan, how much the plan will cost, what benefits are covered, and what the co-payments, deductibles and premiums will be. The page features items that can be clicked for more explanations of each.
Consumers can begin the process, save their answers, and continue working on it later. HHS officials stressed that people should take their time so they feel comfortable with their choices. At any point in the process, customers may click a link to get online help from a real person, or call a phone number for help. For extra assistance, they may ask for one-on-one in-person assistance.