Many Americans, even the most experienced health insurance “shoppers,” struggle choosing and using health insurance plans.
A 2017 study by the Health Disparities Institute of UConn Health showed that many patients across Connecticut don’t understand their complex, jargon-filled private health insurance plans nor use their plan benefits correctly. As a result, consumers often pay more for premiums and spend more out-of-pocket than they would if they only had simpler, more consumer-friendly choices and better decision-making tools.
On Wednesday, Dec. 13 from 8:30 a.m.-12:00 noon the Health Disparities Institute will host a Health Insurance Simplification Seminar at UConn Health’s Cell and Genomics Building at 400 Farmington Ave in Farmington, CT.
The event is gathering together the health insurance field’s top behavioral economists including George Loewenstein, Ph.D. and Saurabh Bhargava, Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Behavioral Decision Research. They will share their latest groundbreaking research about the consequences of health insurance complexity and evidence-based prescriptions for health insurance reform.
The seminar will address questions such as:
- How and why simplify health insurance plans and their language?
- Why so many people, whether low income or the sickest, choose health plans that are economically disadvantageous to them?
- Are there ways consumers could predictably make “smarter” health insurance choices?
Register for the free seminar (Note: limited seats available) at:
https://health.uconn.edu/health-disparities/health-insurance-simplification-seminar-series-2017-2/.
The event is co-sponsored by HDI and the CT Health Foundation.
For more information contact: Dr. Victor G. Villagra, HDI’s associate director at victorg.villagra@gmail.com.