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Searching for individual health insurance coverage can be a nightmare. With few options for apples to apples comparisons of rates, services and more, most consumers have ended up relying on an insurance broker whose livelihood is often based on commissions from the policies that he or she recommends. Additionally, the single buyer lacks the purchase power of a small or large group customer and has typically had to pay much higher premiums.
In response to these and other issues, the new health reform law in the U.S. is bringing about some changes. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has added new information and tools to HHS' consumer website www.HealthCare.gov that were developed to make the health insurance market more transparent, increase competition and help lower costs for individuals.
The site is now making price estimates for private insurance policies available, allowing consumers to compare health insurance plans. This puts consumers in charge, instead of insurance companies and brokers, by providing one-stop shopping and taking some of the guesswork and confusion out of buying insurance.
To help consumers make more informed choices, the site includes new information including two notable metrics never before made public:
• Insurance providers are now required to provide the percentage of people who applied for insurance and were denied coverage.
• Insurance companies are now required to provide the percentage of applicants who were charged higher premiums because of their health status.
Created under the Affordable Care Act, www.HealthCare.gov was launched July 1, 2010, and is the first website to bring information and links to health insurance plans to one place to make it easier for consumers to learn about and compare insurance choices. HHS worked to define and collect detailed benefits and premium rating information from insurers across the country, and as of October 1, 2010, enabled consumers to find information about health insurance options such as:
• Monthly premium estimates
• Cost-sharing information, including annual deductibles and out-of-pocket limits
• Major categories of services covered
• Consumer’s share of cost for these services
• Percent of people in the plan who pay more than the base premium estimate due to their health status
• Percent of people denied coverage from a health plan
More than 225 insurance companies have provided information about their individual and family plans for more than 4,400 policies, including policies in every state and the District of Columbia. Consumers can search for and compare information on plans available to them based on their age, gender, family size, tobacco use and location.
"We applaud the insurance companies that have provided us this information about their products. Together, we are improving competition in the insurance marketplace," said Jay Angoff, director of the Office for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight. "This type of transparent competition is critical to improving quality of coverage and lowering costs for consumers."
The site also includes information about private insurance for small businesses, Medicaid programs in every state and high-risk pools. There are sub-sections of the website with information for specific populations such as young adults and families with children. Time magazine reporter Kate Pickert wrote, “Consumers should go there. Part of the reason the U.S. health insurance system is dysfunctional is that consumers aren't empowered and there's not enough transparency. Many people don't know what their insurance choices are or what laws and regulations affect them. Now they can get this information easily and quickly.”
Pickert noted that consumers may find it frustrating that they can’t buy insurance through the site, and that the data is incomplete. “It's more like a work in progress. HHS officials said today they don't know how many private insurance plans aren't included on the site. (Insurers were excluded if they did not provide plan, pricing, denial and surcharge information to HHS by a recent deadline.) This means healthcare.gov is not comprehensive, although officials expect more plans to be added in the coming months.”
Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2010/10/01/a-relatively-new-and-definitely-improved-website-for-health-insurance/#ixzz11VNg6iB4
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