Abstract
BackgroundHealth insurance enrollment is a difficult financial decision with large health impacts. Challenges such as low health insurance literacy and lack of knowledge about choosing a plan further complicate this decision-making process. Therefore, to support consumers in their choice of a health insurance plan, it is essential to understand how individuals go about making this decision.ObjectiveThis study aims to understand the sources of information used by individuals to support their employer-provided health insurance enrollment decisions. It seeks to describe how individual descriptive factors lead to choosing a particular type of information source.MethodsAn introduction was presented on health insurance plan selection and the sources of information used to support these decisions from the 1980s to the present. Subsequently, an electronic survey of 151 full-time faculty and staff members was conducted. The survey consisted of four sections: demographics, sources of information, health insurance literacy, and technology acceptance. Descriptive statistics were used to show the demographic characteristics of the 126 eligible respondents and to study the response behaviors in the remaining survey sections. Proportion data analysis was performed using the Cochran-Armitage trend test to understand the strength of the association between our variables and the types of sources used by the respondents.ResultsIn terms of demographics, most of the respondents were women (103/126, 81.7%), represented a small household (1-2 persons; 87/126, 69%), and used their insurance 3-12 times a year (52/126, 41.3%). They assessed themselves as having moderate to high health insurance literacy and high acceptance of technology. The most selected and top-ranked sources were Official employer or state websites and Official Human Resources Virtual Benefits Counselor Alex. From our data analysis, we found that the use of official primary sources was constant across age groups and health insurance use groups. Meanwhile, the use of friends or family as a primary source slightly decreased as age and use increased.ConclusionsIn this exploratory study, we identified the main sources of health insurance information among full-time employees from a large state university and found that most of the respondents needed 2-3 sources to gather all the information that they desired. We also studied and identified the relationships between individual factors (such as age, gender, and literacy) and 2 dependent variables on the types of primary sources of information. We encountered several limitations, which will be addressed in future studies.
Highlights
BackgroundEnrolling in a health insurance plan is a complex decision that can have large health and financial impacts [1]
Consumers can benefit from specific information regarding health insurance literacy, available plans, and guidance on how to choose a plan based on the needs of individuals
Hero et al [35] showed that among people with low health insurance literacy, at least 54% had difficulty finding the best or most affordable plan, and at least 48% had fair or poor overall experience when choosing their plan. These findings suggest that disparities in the ability to access and understand health insurance information may be a reason why different demographics may have differing plan selections [36]
Summary
Enrolling in a health insurance plan is a complex decision that can have large health and financial impacts [1]. Studies sought to understand the ideal types of information that consumers preferred when making health insurance enrollment decisions, and Edgman-Levitan and Cleary [14] concluded that consumers need comparative data on the various plans; trade-off evaluations among access, cost, and quality; and methods to determine their out-of-pocket costs based on their health status. Tumlinson et al [16] showed that cost, price, benefits, availability, and quality of providers are essential when comparing plans and making an informed decision Across these studies, there was an acknowledgment of the challenges faced when creating ways to provide and present this information to support consumer understanding. This shows that the process of choosing a health insurance plan is complex and typically leads individuals to make poor decisions [17]. JMIR Form Res 2021 | vol 5 | iss. 8 | e27477 | p. 3 (page number not for citation purposes) if consumers are adopting and preferring these tools in comparison with other sources of health insurance information
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
