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CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming residents have a three-month window starting Saturday to buy insurance under the federal Affordable Care Act.
State residents who aren't insured through an employer's plan or through another program such as Medicaid can start shopping for plans offered by two insurance companies: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming and WINHealth.
Wyoming, like most other states, doesn't operate its own health insurance exchange, or Internet site, where consumers can shop for coverage. Instead, people may compare plans on www.healthcare.gov , the federal exchange site, or go directly to sites maintained by either company.
Wyoming Insurance Commissioner Tom Hirsig said the Affordable Care Act allows enrollment only between Nov. 15 and Feb. 15. He said there are exceptions for people in special circumstances, such as those who have lost their jobs.
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation last year reported that 17 percent of Wyoming residents are uninsured or have only coverage through the Indian Health Service.
Hirsig said the state doesn't have any projections on how many new customers will sign up for insurance. This is the second year of the federal program, which offers subsidies based on income for purchase of approved insurance plans.
Wyoming consumers last year faced the highest rates of any state in the nation and little appears to have changed for this year. Company officials say the state's low population and rural character combined with little competition among health care providers all factor into higher costs.
According to the federal Web site, a Wyoming family of three making $56,573, the state's median income as of 2012, would be eligible for a $694 monthly federal tax credit to help cover insurance costs.
With that tax credit, such a Wyoming family would still have to pay premiums of $259 a month to purchase approved coverage that would carry an $11,000 deductible and a $13,000 annual limit on out-of-pocket medical expenses. Plans with lower deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums would cost more.
Wendy Curran, spokeswoman for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming, said her company currently has about 5,800 people enrolled. She said she had no projection for how many more people her company will enroll in the coming period.
"We expect and we're hopeful that it will be a much smoother process this year," Curran said of signing up on the federal site.
Curran said Blue Cross Blue Shield is offering a wider range of plans than it did last year. "I don't think you'll see a huge increase in prices, I think you'll just see a wider variety of what's out there," she said.
Stephen Goldstone, president and CEO at WINHealth, said his company has about 9,000 people in Wyoming signed up for coverage now and is budgeting to add perhaps as many as 5,000 more in this enrollment period.
"Our costs went up less than 10 percent," Goldstone said of his company's premiums. He said the company didn't change its deductibles and co-pays compared to last year.
Goldstone said he's not hearing that his company's clients are dissatisfied with their provider networks or that they're having any trouble getting to see the doctors and specialists they want.
"I think the biggest problem we've encountered is that people purchased plans based on premium, but not understanding that plans with low premiums have higher out-of-pocket expenses, higher deductibles, higher co-insurances," Goldstone said.
"We're optimistic that the whole process will work better than it did last year," Goldstone said.
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