Health News
- Study Finds People With High Deductibles Skimp On Doctor Visits
In theory, higher deductibles on health-insurance plans should force down health-care costs because patients will become smarter shoppers, but a study has found that patients shifted to a higher-deductible plan did not shop for a better deal, but simply...
- Feds, State Will Allow Mid-april Enrollment For People Who Start But Don't Complete Obamacare Applications By March 31
"The Obama administration has decided to give extra time to Americans who say that they are unable to enroll in health-care plans through the federal insurance marketplace by the March 31 deadline," The Washington Post reports. "Federal officials...
- 15 To 25% Of Uninsured Kentuckians May Be Eligible For Free, Non-medicaid Coverage, But Watch Those Out-of-pocket Costs
Millions of Americans who don't quite qualify for Medicaid could still get free health insurance through federal subsidies, but this free coverage hasn't gotten much attention, since most of the zero premium plans come with some trade-offs. An...
- Clearing Up Confusion About Health Reform?s Out-of-pocket Protections
Recent media coverage may have sown confusion about health reform?s requirement that health insurance plans cap how much consumers can pay out-of-pocket each year for medical care. The bottom line: for many plans, the protections will take effect as scheduled...
- Summaries Of Benefits And Coverage: Simplifying Shopping For Health Insurance
As of September 23, the ?wild west? of shopping for health insurance coverage has been at least partially tamed, thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Consumers can now get standardized, simplified summaries of benefits and coverage (SBC) that will...
Health News
Shopping for health insurance is hard; understanding it is even harder, even for some who already have it, research shows
As Kentucky and the nation settle into the second phase of the Obamacare rollout, leading up to the March 31 deadline to enroll in exchange health-insurance plans for 2014, Sarah Kliff of The Washington Post reminds us that "For those who successfully enrolled for insurance coverage, that's only one big hurdle behind them. The next is understanding how the plan works."
Many of the newly insured are likely to stumble on that hurdle, Kliff writes, citing new research showing that "Fewer than one in four uninsured Americans felt confident they understood nine basic insurance terms like 'premium,' 'co-insurance' and 'maximum out-of-pocket' charges." But many people who have had coverage also said they lacked a good handle on the nine terms.
"Confusion around these concepts would make it difficult for consumers to understand trade-offs between different health insurance plans," Sharon Long of The Urban Institute and her co-authors wrote in the journal . "Low health literacy could reduce the gains for consumers, particularly?if the consumers who do enroll face unexpected out-of-pocket expenses."
Kliff writes, "Those with the most difficulty tended to be those who were bilingual or Spanish-speakers, younger people and those with less than a high school education. While these groups had the lowest rates of understanding, that's not to say that other demographics did great: Among those who were college graduates, just over half felt confident in understanding all nine terms. . . . The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, for example, has launched an AskBlue Web site that's pretty much aimed at educating consumers about these terms."
"Confusion around these concepts would make it difficult for consumers to understand trade-offs between different health insurance plans," Sharon Long of The Urban Institute and her co-authors wrote in the journal . "Low health literacy could reduce the gains for consumers, particularly?if the consumers who do enroll face unexpected out-of-pocket expenses."
Kliff writes, "Those with the most difficulty tended to be those who were bilingual or Spanish-speakers, younger people and those with less than a high school education. While these groups had the lowest rates of understanding, that's not to say that other demographics did great: Among those who were college graduates, just over half felt confident in understanding all nine terms. . . . The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, for example, has launched an AskBlue Web site that's pretty much aimed at educating consumers about these terms."
- Study Finds People With High Deductibles Skimp On Doctor Visits
In theory, higher deductibles on health-insurance plans should force down health-care costs because patients will become smarter shoppers, but a study has found that patients shifted to a higher-deductible plan did not shop for a better deal, but simply...
- Feds, State Will Allow Mid-april Enrollment For People Who Start But Don't Complete Obamacare Applications By March 31
"The Obama administration has decided to give extra time to Americans who say that they are unable to enroll in health-care plans through the federal insurance marketplace by the March 31 deadline," The Washington Post reports. "Federal officials...
- 15 To 25% Of Uninsured Kentuckians May Be Eligible For Free, Non-medicaid Coverage, But Watch Those Out-of-pocket Costs
Millions of Americans who don't quite qualify for Medicaid could still get free health insurance through federal subsidies, but this free coverage hasn't gotten much attention, since most of the zero premium plans come with some trade-offs. An...
- Clearing Up Confusion About Health Reform?s Out-of-pocket Protections
Recent media coverage may have sown confusion about health reform?s requirement that health insurance plans cap how much consumers can pay out-of-pocket each year for medical care. The bottom line: for many plans, the protections will take effect as scheduled...
- Summaries Of Benefits And Coverage: Simplifying Shopping For Health Insurance
As of September 23, the ?wild west? of shopping for health insurance coverage has been at least partially tamed, thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Consumers can now get standardized, simplified summaries of benefits and coverage (SBC) that will...