By Susan Jaffe | Feb. 9, 2012 | KAISER HEALTH NEWS in partnership with 
The Obama administration Thursday unveiled final regulations detailing the new health insurance summaries that the federal health law requires plans to give to consumers to help them make informed coverage choices.
Mila Kofman, a research professor at Georgetown University… said that when consumers shop for insurance now, “co-insurance” or “annual deductible” may mean different things depending on the policy. Providing uniform information that’s easy to understand will empower consumers, she said.
“This will fundamentally change the way insurance is sold and the way is bought, and will make it much easier for consumers,” she said. [More from KHN or McClatchy]
groups today urged President Barack Obama not to weaken a key consumer provision of his signature health care overhaul law.
While a video camera captures every moment, the woman accepts the task with gusto. She says getting rid of some columns will make the form clearer and changing the blue ink to black will be easier on the eyes. But the last page is trouble. “This is really wordy,” she says. “I would have to put it down and go get a bowl of ice cream and go back to it later.”
much of the costs different plans will cover for three medical conditions: maternity care, treatment for diabetes and breast cancer. And because buying insurance is more complicated than buying a can of soup, the proposed insurance labels are two pages long. ….The new “coverage facts labels” are required under the health overhaul law, which directed the National Assn. of Insurance Commissioners to draft them. [