Little-provision provision of overhaul law requires companies to tell it like it is

By SUSAN JAFFE                  updated Dec. 16, 2010

KAISER HEALTH NEWS in partnership with  

Choosing a health insurance policy should be easier if consumers use the simple chart and other information that state insurance commissioners approved Thursday.

“It will force the insurance companies to reveal information in a consistent way,” says Bonnie Burns, a policy specialist for California Health Advocates, a consumer health advocacy group. “And it should make it easier for people to understand what they’re getting and not getting.”

 Under a little-known provision of the health overhaul law, insurers will be required to provide their benefits information on a standardized chart using the same plain English terms as other companies to help shoppers understand and compare complicated policies.      MORE

Speak plain English, health insurers told