Results from the first full year of the Affordable Care Act seem to point toward the success of the program, according to a regional federal official.

Kim Gillan, the Region VIII director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, visited Kalispell recently to discuss the health-care bill and how it has affected Montanans.

“We’ve gone from a marketplace dominated by a few insurance companies to one with stiff competition,” she said. “We had three last year and a fourth one entering the marketplace this year.”

The new insurance company, Assurant, joins the Montana Health Co-op, PacificSource and Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Gillan was a Montana state representative from 1996 to 2004 and state senator from 2004 to 2012, representing Billings.

As a former Democrat politician in a “red” state, Gillan said she understands the distrust of government involvement in something such as health care, but stressed that the Affordable Care Act does not provide medical care.

“It’s still private insurance,” she said. “It’s not government insurance.”

In last year’s open marketplace, 36,000 Montanans signed up on Healthcare.gov, a site that Gillan said is still being worked on to make it more user-friendly and painless.

When the site was launched last year, critics lambasted it for its many technical glitches and failings. However, many Americans who used the website when initial problems were resolved were among the 41 million uninsured Americans when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010.

“One in five of those uninsured come from rural communities,” Gillan said. “And the estimate before the open enrollment period was 20 percent of Montanans lacked health insurance.”

One of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act is that insurance companies must spent 80 cents of every dollar directly on patient care. This has seen immediate results.

“For five years prior to 2014, Montana had seen premium increases of 13 to 18 percent in the market,” Gillan said. “This year rates increased 1.3 percent. It’s a dramatic difference.”

The 80/20 rule has already saved American taxpayers $9 billion, Gillan said.

Her main push is not to tout the government’s numbers but to inform people of the upcoming enrollment period.

The period will open Nov. 15 and continue until Feb. 15, 2015. As many Americans are finding themselves insured for the first time ever, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services is unveiling its “From Coverage to Care” program.

Many people do not know how to access their care now that they are covered by insurance, Gillan said.

“It can help people find a family-care physician rather than going the more expensive route of going to the emergency room,” she said. “My goal is outreach and education to help people find out how to use insurance.”

The majority of those who signed up through the Marketplace have received some sort of tax credit— an average of $99 per household — to help alleviate the costs.

Along with the From Coverage to Care program, a small business marketplace will soon be up and running, with tax incentives for small businesses (those employing 25 or fewer people) hoping to get more sign-ups in the next open marketplace.

Resources:

 For Coverage to Care resources, go to http://marketplace.cms.gov/technical-assistance-resources/c2c.html.

 To contact Gillan, email her at Kim.Gillan@hhs.gov.

 For insurance information or to find eligibility or tax credits, go to healthcare.gov.

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.