Jeff Korsmo and Hugh Tappan: Sign up for health insurance coverage

Every American should have access to high-quality, safe health care, as a basic human right. One way to achieve that goal is for more Americans to obtain health insurance coverage.

That’s why, as leaders of two of the state’s largest health care providers, we urge uninsured Kansans to sign up for coverage during the second open-enrollment period for the nation’s health insurance marketplace exchanges.

Via Christi Health and Wesley Medical Center have been strong supporters of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act that extend health insurance coverage to millions of Americans, because we believe access to health care should be a basic right. In our country, people who are uninsured lack adequate access to health care, leading to later diagnoses and poorer outcomes.

In Kansas, an estimated 359,000 people are uninsured – 12.6 percent of the population.

We need a “Kansas solution” – not just for the expansion of Medicaid in our state (although we strongly believe this is in Kansas’ best interest from both a health and financial perspective), but also from an accessibility standpoint. We have a large number of uninsured Kansans – many of whom live in Wichita – who want insurance and are willing to pay for it. And the health insurance marketplace provides a good option to expand that access to care.

A majority of Americans gave good reviews to the first year of insurance coverage through the marketplaces. A new Gallup poll found that 71 percent said their coverage through the exchanges was good or excellent; 19 percent rated the coverage fair, and 9 percent rated it poor.

Gallup said those results compare to the way all Americans rate their private insurance coverage. The new poll, released Nov. 14, also found that 75 percent of the newly insured were satisfied with the cost of their health care, compared with 61 percent of all insured respondents.

The 2015 open enrollment period for the health insurance marketplace in Kansas opened Nov. 15. Last year, more than 57,000 Kansans obtained coverage through the marketplace.

According to the Kansas Health Institute, the 2015 marketplace in Kansas offers 82 insurance plans to choose from – 64 for individuals and families, and 18 for small businesses.

Five companies are offering marketplace insurance coverage, and the average premium has changed only slightly, up just 0.1 percent from 2014. Consumers should try to shop for the best coverage at the best price, because premiums vary. Both Via Christi and Wesley Medical Center offer navigation services to help uninsured Kansans find coverage through the online marketplace.

We urge families and individuals to protect themselves financially by taking advantage of these new options to obtain insurance coverage.

This story was originally published November 22, 2014 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Jeff Korsmo and Hugh Tappan: Sign up for health insurance coverage."