marco’s posterous

Q: I believe I would qualify for the new high-risk pool since I have been uninsured for more than six months and have a pre-existing condition. Where and how do I apply?

Q: Where can my nephew go to get healthcare insurance? He is self-employed, married, has two children, and is low-income.

A: At last, there's an easy way to answer questions like these. It's called healthcare.gov, it went live this morning, and even though it won’t dole out a penny in subsidies, or have the power to make a recalcitrant insurer write an affordable policy for an adult with a pre-existing condition, it still represents a gigantic step forward for consumers. Until now, incredibly, there has been no single, comprehensive listing of health insurance policies available to individuals and small businesses who are not eligible for Medicare. Anywhere. Period.

"We have more than 1,000 insurance carriers offering 5,561 products open for enrollment," said Todd Park, chief technology officer at the Department of Health and Human Services and the mastermind behind the new site. "It was developed in 90 days, which is crazy, with the benefit of a ton of consumer input—18 focus groups in five locations, and two full days of beta testing."

You can go on this exceedingly easy-to-navigate website—brought to you courtesy of a provision of the Affordable Care Act—enter your state of residence and answer a few questions such as how old you are, whether you have a serious health condition, and whether or not you’ve had trouble affording insurance, and get back a comprehensive list of options both public and private. These include:

Private individual and small business health plans. You can see every plan sold in your state (insurance is regulated and sold on a state-by-state basis), along with: