Despite Scott Walker, Health Care Exchanges helping more Wisconsinites get coverage.

The ACA’s health care exchanges have been a big success so far, as more people take responsibility and control of their insurance choices.

There is one big dark cloud on the horizon; the conservative activist Supreme Court might decide those using the federal exchange, not the state run exchanges, won’t get any tax credits or help paying down their premiums. That would end reform in those generally Republican states. Add this possible decision to corporate personhood, speech is money, guns for everybody, corporate religion, and “not so burdensome” hoops to jump through to simply vote, and you can see why. Come to think of it, they've been more destructive than any congress in recent memory.

Here are the health care exchange details for Wisconsin, despite Scott Walker intentional roadblocks: 

jsonline-Guy Boulton: In the first month of the open-enrollment period, 92,398 people in Wisconsin selected health plans on the marketplace … Slightly more than four out of every 10 of those people — 42% — bought plans for the first time on the marketplace. The remainder re-enrolled in a plan. The 92,398 people who signed up for a health plan on the marketplace in Wisconsin don't include people automatically re-enrolled in their current plan … An estimated 130,000 people in Wisconsin bought health plans on the marketplace during the first open-enrollment period.

Nine out of 10 people in Wisconsin who bought health plans on the marketplace as of Dec. 15 qualified for federal subsidies to lower the cost. That was up slightly from 88% in the last enrollment period.

As more people understand the process, the more willing they’ll be to sign up. And it’s also a chance
to educate the public, showing them just how bad this private insurance system is, even after reform. It’s not just insurers either, since device and drug makers are allowed to charge whatever they want. Some say “that’s the free market,” but is it? The fact that the government can’t negotiate a better bulk deal on drugs raises the cost to taxpayers who are paying for Medicare and Medicaid, not to mention their own company or private business health care insurance.

Chris McArdle, a broker with the Rauser Agency, which has offices in Milwaukee and Mequon said, "People are more comfortable with it. It was a much more engaged marketplace."

And for small businesses, the exchange will dramatically bring down prices, all the while keeping them competitive with big business benefits.