Hawaii’s first health insurance exchange designed to provide affordable medical coverage for thousands of uninsured residents under the federal health reform law has reached a milestone: the hiring this week of an executive director.

Coral Andrews started in the position on Monday and spoke at a health forum Tuesday about how the exchange will drive down the number of uninsured from 8 percent to less than 5 percent over the next decade. Andrews was previously vice president for six years of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii, a trade association representing hospitals, long-term care and hospice providers.

"The idea is it’s going to be a bit like a Travelocity where you’ll have a front Web page screen where individuals or small businesses will be able to shop the exchange," she said. "The idea is to make it affordable because currently it is more expensive for individuals and small businesses to buy coverage. Our focus, of course, is in assisting consumers to be able to access health care so we have a healthier Hawaii."

Andrews was picked by an interim board of directors, which includes insurance carriers, state officials, consumers and medical providers, to lead the private nonprofit exchange. The Hawaii Health Connector is funded in part by state appropriations, federal grants and private contributions.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last week awarded the state $14.4 million to establish the online marketplace aimed at providing affordable health plans to individuals and small businesses with 50 employees or less.

The marketplace will offer a variety of health plans ranging in cost and coverage. The concept is that by spreading risk across an entire population, with a greater number of healthy and sick in a single pool, health insurance will become affordable for all.

The program prohibits insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions or from charging excessive premiums. Nationwide exchanges, a key component of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, are expected to bring about more competition between carriers and, in turn, drive down costs.

The state insurance commissioner will approve health plans that must meet federal requirements for minimum health benefits to participate in the exchange, which will go live in January 2014. Fees assessed on insurance carriers will eventually fund the exchange.

Operational costs and the number of people who are expected to go through the exchange have not been determined, Andrews said.

"The design of the Connector will dictate some of those costs," Andrews said at the health forum hosted by ThinkTech Hawaii, the Hawaii Venture Capital Association and others.