New consumer shopping aids are being made available to visitors to Healthcare.gov, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced.
The new Out of Pocket Cost calculator, Doctor and Facility Lookup, and Prescription Drug Lookup features are intended to help consumers more easily search for the Affordable Care Act plan that best meets their budget and health needs.
“All consumers visiting HealthCare.gov to search for coverage ahead of the Dec. 15 enrollment deadline will be provided with relevant, personalized and more up-to-date information about their plan options before enrolling,” said Kevin Counihan, CEO of the Health Insurance Marketplace.
Since enrollment began Nov. 1, a new Out of Pocket Cost calculator has helped consumers better estimate the cost of their health insurance based on their own personal situation.
The feature provides consumers with an estimate for each specific plan of what their premiums, deductibles, and co-pays may be, based on their own anticipated health care service utilization.
Two additional features have been tested since enrollment opened and are now being deployed: a Doctor and Facility Lookup feature, and a Prescription Drug Lookup feature.
These provide consumers shopping for coverage with easily searchable information about a plan’s network of doctors, and the prescription drugs that plans may cover.
During the pilot test, both tools were made available to about one in four visitors to HealthCare.gov, selected at random, allowing developers to examine the consumer experience and analyze consumer feedback. About two million visitors used the tools to search for their doctors and prescriptions drugs.
This year, for the first time, insurers are required to provide up-to-date information about which doctors and facilities are in their networks. Insurers must also provide information on the medications covered in a health plan’s formulary.
HealthCare.gov has this information from over 90% of insurance companies on the Marketplace. If an insurance company has not provided data, consumers will be alerted that the information is not available.
CMS reminds consumers that health plans can change the doctors and facilities in their networks on a continual basis, and providers can change locations and affiliations. For these reasons, it encourages consumers to check with their doctor or plan to confirm that their doctor accepts that plan.
Consumers will be asked to opt-in to use the tools, to be sure they understand limitations with the data. They will be able to leave comments and suggestions for improvement directly through the site.
Open Enrollment for 2016 health coverage runs through Jan. 31, 2016.