Kansas consumers wanting health insurance through the federally-facilitated marketplace beginning Nov. 1 will continue to have choices of health insurance companies, according to information published by the Kansas Insurance Department.

An online department document states that companies available through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) federal marketplace enrollment are BlueCrossBlueShield Kansas Solutions, Inc. (a subsidiary of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas),  Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City (for consumers in Johnson and Wyandotte counties), and Medica Insurance Company. All three companies signed agreements recently with the federal government to offer a total of 23 individual marketplace plans online through www.heathcare.gov.

The BlueCross BlueShield Kansas Solutions product is available in all Kansas counties except Johnson and Wyandotte. The Medica plans are available in all counties. 

Consumers wishing to look at the complete overview of the marketplace plan information prior to online enrollment can go to KID-Issue-Brief.pdf on the insurance department’s website.

Not participating in the Kansas federal marketplace for 2017 are United Healthcare of the Midwest and PPO plans offered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas.

As of May 1, 2016, approximately six percent of Kansans were covered by individual major medical insurance purchased either through the online marketplace or through private purchase. 

“During marketplace open enrollment, Kansans should evaluate whether to enroll in coverage, stay on their current policy, or enroll in a different policy,” said Ken Selzer, CPA, Kansas Commissioner of Insurance.