Health insurer launches website on issues

For Hometown Health Chief Executive Officer Ty Windfeldt, health-care issues have been a hot-button topic most everywhere he goes.

“It seemed every time I would walk into the breakroom of our offices, they would have CNN or another news outlet going and they were talking about health-care reform,” Windfeldt said. “Or I would go to the cafeteria and hear some discussion about it there, too.”

With all the chatter, it occurred to Windfeldt that Hometown Health, the nonprofit insurance arm of Renown Health, needed to do something to educate the public on health-care issues.

So Hometown Health on Oct. 19 launched a website, HometownHealth.com/HealthcareChoice2018, in part to provide updates on health care legislation and answer the public’s question on the topic.

The timing couldn’t have been better, with President Donald Trump signing the Presidential Executive Order Promoting Healthcare Choice and Competition Across the United States and with the fall open enrollment period for health insurance coverage facilitated under the Affordable Care Act.

The order addresses three areas of health care, expanding association health plans, relaxing restrictions on low-cost short-term health insurance plans and increasing health insurance arrangements.

The executive order and its pending implications may have caused confusion or even fears for Nevada residents of what may happen next. The Hometown Health website features frequently asked questions on health care and insurance related issues.

Windfeldt indicated any future inquiries made to Hometown may also be published on the site.

“If they seem to be really good questions that we haven’t asked before, and it’s appropriate we will put them up there,” Windfeldt said. “We also want to know the questions we are getting, we want to make sure we address them.”

The site will also provide update if any legislation is coming down the pike.

Another aspect is it offer information or links to topics including Medicaid.

But any significant legislation is far from becoming a reality. In fact, Windfeldt assumes no change either or at the state level, will come until at least 2018 or most likely until the next legislative session in 2019.

“When you read through all the executive order, it’s not all that significant,” Windfeldt said. “Our belief is the administration’s focus on health care will take a back seat as tax reform takes front and center. For now the executive order was probably the last message we’ll hear on health-care for awhile.”