Facilitating State Health Exchange Communication Through the Use of Health Literate Practices Workshop Summary (2012) / Chapter Skim
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4 Health Literacy Relevance to Health Insurance Exchanges
4 Health Literacy Relevance to Health Insurance Exchanges
Pages 49-66
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From page 49... ...
. Funderburk pointed out that while health reform expands access to coverage and creates new health insurance options, understanding of these options is relatively low among key target audiences, including both the consumers who will be eligible for individual coverage and the qualified small businesses and their employees that will be eligible for coverage through the exchanges.
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From page 50... ...
For example, improved access to health insurance and the associated benefits of improved population health and improved quality of life will only occur if consumers use the information to make informed choices that are tailored to their needs and aspirations. Research suggests that motiva tional and attitudinal issues can be as detrimental to making appropriate health choices as low health literacy (Funderburk, 2011; Kotler and Lee, 2008; Sutton et al., 1995)
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From page 51... ...
CMS staff conferred with representatives of existing state health insurance exchanges, conducted an environmental scan, and began to test website formats with people who were uninsured or who were afraid of losing their coverage. CMS staff also explored basic perceptions of people most likely to use this resource in an effort to gain a basic understanding of "consumer reality" about health insurance products.
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From page 52... ...
Among those who were uninsured, there was fear and worry related to an unanticipated illness or accident. Among individuals who had health insurance coverage, there was the fear of losing coverage.
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From page 53... ...
The health insurance portal at HealthCare.gov continues to evolve. Comparative pricing information for health plans in the individual private market was added in October 2010 using displays that were informed by consumer testing.
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From page 54... ...
The objective of the state health insurance exchanges is to increase access, and its purpose is to help people make decisions to address their health care concerns and to mitigate their health care costs. How these exchanges are being designed is instrumental to their success (Box 4-1)
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From page 55... ...
. Some elements of formative research for the development of state health exchanges have been undertaken and have yielded important insights.
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From page 56... ...
The purpose was to explicate the various tasks involved in critical health activities, the various tools needed to accomplish those tasks, and the literacy skills needed to use the tools and accomplish the tasks. Teachers would then be able to appreciate the value of their expertise and understand the relationship between literacy and health.
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From page 57... ...
The books have been and are currently being used in the adult continuing educa tion programs of many states to instruct adult education teachers how to integrate health literacy into their classes. A similar process can be used to understand the activities people need to engage in as they use information from state health insurance exchanges to make decisions central to their lives.
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From page 58... ...
Next, Rudd spoke about the notion of choice. The state health exchanges are being established to help people make informed health plan choices.
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From page 59... ...
• Christine Molnar4 completed work 10 years ago through the Com munity Service Society in New York City working with and pro viding training for community members in order to hold public forums to help people understand their health insurance options. • Archie Willard of New Readers of Iowa organized a group of people with acknowledged reading problems to improve health services in their state.
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From page 60... ...
It respects the dignity of people, increasing participation by involving members of the intended audience in development and design. State health insurance exchanges are projected to be the gateway for approximately 29 million people gaining access to health coverage.
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From page 61... ...
It may be advisable to require that states complete a checklist, in the same way that research investigators have to submit paperwork to an institutional review board, Rudd suggested. The checklist could include providing evidence that they have revised materials based on testing with members of the intended audience.
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From page 62... ...
Looking into what is going on within the community to foster better nutrition can lead to insights for communities that are faring poorly. Reviews of the positive experience of selected exchanges will be informative in the context of the state health insurance exchanges given the diversity of programs that will be in place, Funderburk said.
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From page 63... ...
Dreyer added that the use of scenarios also helps consumers understand the implications of a plan's out-of-pocket expenses, their potential deductibles, co-insurance, and co-payments. Ruth Parker, roundtable member, asked Rudd about strategies to reduce consumers' dread of the process of selecting a health insurance plan.
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From page 64... ...
Rudd described how putting questions about the teach-back method on exams, especially licensing exams, encourages medical schools to teach the method. Arthur Culbert, round table member, added that there is a tremendous opportunity for statebased organizations such as Health Literacy Missouri, Health Literacy Maryland, and Iowa's health literacy project to work more closely with their state health insurance exchanges.
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From page 65... ...
2011. Health insurance exchanges: Facilitating choice through health literacy interven tions.
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