Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, Breaking Bronx features a health-related story, event or tidbit as part of an online expansion of our Be Healthy! column.

In a move to implement President Obama’s health care reform here in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered the establishment of a State Health Care Exchange last month, an online marketplace where individuals and small businesses can buy health insurance plans at prices much lower than current costs.

The exchange is in compliance with Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which, among other provisions, seeks to greatly reduce the number of uninsured Americans by requiring them to purchase health insurance, and providing subsidies and tax credits to help them pay for it. In New York, there are approximately $2.7 million people who lack health care coverage. Over 200,000 live in the Bronx, according to Census data.

“The bottom line is that creating this health exchange will lower the cost of health insurance for small businesses, local governments, and individual New Yorkers across the state,” Gov. Cuomo said in a statement.

Come 2014, residents will be able to access a website that allows them to review different state-approved insurance plans, compare prices and benefits, and see what tax credits they’re eligible for to help offset the costs of their monthly premiums. While anyone would be able to use the exchange, it’s geared toward small business owners looking to buy insurance for their employees, or individuals who don’t get coverage through their jobs but who make too much to qualify for public plans like Medicaid.

“The sky-high cost of insurance in New York is driving businesses out of the state and preventing lower income New Yorkers from being able to afford needed coverage,” Cuomo said.

The average cost of an insurance plan on the individual market in New York is $1,200 a month for one person, and $3,450 a month for a family of four, according to Cuomo’s office. Under the exchange, the governor estimates a single person would see their cost drop by 66 percent. Small businesses would see the cost of providing coverage to their employees drop by 22 percent.

Federal health care reform requires that all state have operating Insurance Exchanges by 2014. States have until the end of this year to create their own, or the federal government will take over and set one up for them.

“The federal government does not know the intricacies of New York State’s diverse population and regional and economic layout,” Bronx State Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson said in a statement in November, urging her colleagues to establish the exchange. “It is advantageous for New Yorkers to control the design.”

Cuomo was trying to get the exchange set up through legislation, but resorted to signing an executive order in April after Republicans in the State Senate blocked its passage in the budget. The exchange will be financed entirely with federal funds, Cuomo said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, including the provision that requires uninsured individuals buy their own insurance. A decision in that case is expected in June.

Ask Be Healthly! Send Us Your Health Questions.

Got a pressing health, fitness, or nutrition question on your mind? Send them our way! We’re ready to tackle your queries about food, sex, illness, health insurance, prescription medications–any health-related topics that puzzle or interest you.

We’ll answer your question in a Q&A feature appearing in the Norwood News‘ Be Healthy! column. If we don’t know, we’ll ask the experts. You can sign your name or send it anonymously.

Send your queries to: norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org.

Here’s a link to the first installment of Ask Be Healthy!

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.