NY Times: It’s Not Just You: Picking a Health Insurance Plan Is Really Hard
An excerpt:
Health insurance is a complicated financial product, and study after study has shown that people routinely pick bad plans, even choosing options that leave them worse off financially in every possible scenario…
Many Americans don’t understand terms like “deductible” or “coinsurance” very well. And few are good at predicting what sort of health care needs they will have in the coming year…
A recent study in the Netherlands, which offers insurance to everyone through an Obamacare-like marketplace, found that only 5 percent of Dutch customers did a better job at choosing an ideal plan than they would have by choosing a plan at random… People with less education and income, who tend to be in worse health, were very likely to choose a plan that cost them more to cover their health care — a situation that might leave them skimping on needed medicine or procedures.
My take: This article is so true. When I choose health insurance, this is always a complicated task despite my familiarity and expertise. I would expect that computer-aided decision-making could be developed and be helpful.
Related blog posts:
- ‘Health Insurance is Broken’
- Do deductibles work to improve smart spending on health care? (No)
- NY Times: America can afford a world-class health system. Why don’t we have one?
- We are Last in Health Care Among High Income Countries
- How The IRS Proved That Health Insurance Saves Lives | gutsandgrowth
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