Open source Health Insurance Exhange (HIX) solutions

Free, effective and abundantly available, open source will be crucial to not only meeting [Affordable Care Act] schedule and budget goals, but also providing consumer-friendly, informative and effective HIXs.  According to Ohloh.net, there are over half a million open source projects and billions of lines of proven open source code at-the-ready for developers. 

For a “real world” example, think of HIXs like e-marketplaces, bringing buyers and sellers together – an Amazon.com of health insurance options.  And what does Amazon rely on?  Open source, of course.  As does eBay, and nearly every other e-commerce site.  It is open source that allows these companies to innovate – to provide successful, timely, user-friendly portals giving customers both the information and the services they need to make informed decisions.

Luckily, OSS is already pervasive within the US government, which has relied on open source for years because of these very benefits.  From the Department of Defense to the Department of Energy, the Department of Veterans Affairs to NASA, open source already plays crucial role in government work.  Extending the use of OSS to HIXs is a natural and important progression.