Insurance exchange will force choices
For decades, Brad and Heidi Stokes have put health care at the center of every important life decision.
Heidi Stokes, whose lupus was diagnosed when she was a teenager, picked her early career path around jobs that offered medical benefits. Husband Brad developed a rare liver disease in the late 1980s and has since had two liver transplants. Their college-age son, Christian, was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 15 months old.
As small business owners with complex medical needs, the couple have had only one realistic option for insurance coverage: the state’s high-risk pool. But that will change Tuesday with the debut of the MNsure insurance exchange, an online marketplace that gives individuals and small businesses a range of choices while using the power of competition and federal tax breaks to hold down costs.
“The idea that we could go shopping for insurance — and select something for ourselves — is just unbelievable,” Heidi Stokes said. “For the first time, I’ve got some hope for the future.”
