The United States has an employer-based healthcare payment system in place that many people feel is a good basis for payment. The problem is that millions of Americans are employed by companies that do not offer health insurance benefits; therefore their employees may not have coverage. A health insurance exchange may be the solution.
One reason many employers don't offer health insurance coverage is because they are small companies, employing fewer than 50 or 100 people. Since they are so small, they don't have the same kind of bargaining power that larger businesses have. Therefore the prices they pay for insurance coverage are higher. They cannot afford to stay in business if they offer such expensive health insurance coverage to their employees.
One solution for these employers and their employees is to give them access to a health insurance exchange. A health insurance exchange is usually sponsored by a government, either federal, state or local. Because these groups are so large, insurers want to work with them to insure their members, so they keep their pricing lower in order to compete.
Read more about the health insurance exchange proposal as defined by the federal Ways and Means Committee.
