NJ Spotlight published the following article on June 27, 2014. To read the full article, click here.
KEY QUESTION ABOUT PEOPLE INSURED BY ACA: DID THEY KNOW WHAT THEY BOUGHT?
ANDREW KITCHENMAN | JUNE 27, 2014Study finds NJ residents trail Northeast and nation in knowledge of basic insurance terms
As the dust settles from the first round of sign-ups through the federal health insurance marketplace, a new report raises an unexpected question: Did New Jersey residents who enrolled through the Affordable Care Act even know what they were buying?
A Rutgers Center for State Health Policyanalysis completed in December and released yesterday found that a lower percentage of New Jersey residents were confident they understood basic insurance terms like “deductible,” “premium” and “provider network” than other people in the Northeast and the nation.
For example, 71 percent of New Jersey residents said they were “very” or “somewhat” confident that they understood what a deductible is (it’s the annual amount a person must pay out-of-pocket for medical services before their insurance covers costs), while 81.1 percent of Northeast residents and 77.1 percent across the country expressed confidence in their understanding of the term.
Center Director Joel Cantor said the survey results indicate that many of the 161,775 residentswho bought plans through the marketplace may not have been aware of what services their plans would cover.