More than half of the uninsured don't know that the government will help fund their insurance, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. More than half of the subsidy-eligible who shopped but didn't buy on healthcare.gov didn't recognize that they were eligible for subsidies, according to McKinsey and Company.
A functioning shop-around feature, in which a user punches in location, household members and income and gets price quotes with subsidies included, could be a major weapon against that widespread ignorance. When Healthcare.gov launched, or failed to launch, last fall, it didn't have one. In December a shoparound was up and functioning -- but many folks never saw it; the home page didn't particularly steer you to it.
This year is different. The shoparound showing quotes for 2015 was up before Open Season launched, and you couldn't miss it (good news: now that Open Season has kicked off, that's still true). How effective is it?
I have an article up on Healthinsurance.org that explores its strengths and weaknesses, with expert health. In brief, the good news: you can't miss the shoparound when you visit hc.gov, and if you try it, you can get price quotes in under a minute. And the bad: the guidance toward silver plans for those eligible for Cost Sharing Reduction subsidies, which are available only with silver, is still weak, and the information about CSR subsidies is incomplete. More generally, the level of decision support is not up to that of select states, like Idaho, the only state to exit Healthcare.gov and launch its own exchange this year.
A functioning shop-around feature, in which a user punches in location, household members and income and gets price quotes with subsidies included, could be a major weapon against that widespread ignorance. When Healthcare.gov launched, or failed to launch, last fall, it didn't have one. In December a shoparound was up and functioning -- but many folks never saw it; the home page didn't particularly steer you to it.
This year is different. The shoparound showing quotes for 2015 was up before Open Season launched, and you couldn't miss it (good news: now that Open Season has kicked off, that's still true). How effective is it?
I have an article up on Healthinsurance.org that explores its strengths and weaknesses, with expert health. In brief, the good news: you can't miss the shoparound when you visit hc.gov, and if you try it, you can get price quotes in under a minute. And the bad: the guidance toward silver plans for those eligible for Cost Sharing Reduction subsidies, which are available only with silver, is still weak, and the information about CSR subsidies is incomplete. More generally, the level of decision support is not up to that of select states, like Idaho, the only state to exit Healthcare.gov and launch its own exchange this year.
