The health literacy items divided into two factors, representing understanding of terminology and reading comprehension. Health insurance literacy survey reports health disparities. But do most americans have the knowledge and skill they need to navigate or get the most out of their insurance plans. Health literacy is commonly defined as patients ability to obtain, process, and understand the basic health information and services they need to make appropriate health decisions.
Project read, an adult literacy program located in utah county, is running a new health literacy course aimed at teaching the basics of doctors orders, prescriptions and other nutritionrelated. Having health insurance does not mitigate the effects of low health literacy or low hil. Understanding health insurance plans requires consumer. A framework on health insurance literacy for the outreach and. Aug 28, 2015 redesigned health insurance questions traditional. Enroll america and perryundem research, voices from the newly enrolled and still uninsured. Health literacy includes the ability to understand instructions on prescription drug bottles, appointment slips, medical education brochures, doctors directions and consent forms, and the ability to. Nov 24, 2014 health literacy hl is seen as an increasingly relevant issue for global public health and requires a reliable and comprehensive operationalization. Health insurance, with its jargon and complicated fee structure, has long been confusing for many consumers, but experts say the literacy gap poses an especially big problem now. These health insurance difficulties take a toll on consumers health and financial wellbeing, and they have cost implications for health plans and. Literacy has been found to be a predictor of health literacy. Pdf understanding health insurance is central to affording and accessing health care. Knowledge about peoples health literacy is therefore central to nurses aiming at adapting health.
Understanding health insurance is central to affording and accessing health care in the united states. Consumer education to increase health insurance literacy. Why is it important to know about health insurance. Major steps forward have been achieved in particular in the development, testing and application of health literacy screening instruments. You can use these studies for ideas about research and evaluation questions or as benchmarks for your own results. The terminology used within the health insurance field. A call to action innovations in health literacy research. Efforts to support consumers in making wise purchasing decisions and using health insurance to their advantage would benefit from the development of a valid and reliable measure to assess health insurance literacy. Healthcare insurance literacy vital for higher coverage rate. It is defined as the capacity to find and evaluate information about health plans, select the best plan given financial health circumstances, and use the plan once enrolled. The act calls for major reforms to begin on january 1, 2014, with open enrollment beginning in october 20.
While health literacy is important to achieving better health outcomes, health insurance literacy modifies access to healthcare by influencing whether individuals avoid or delay seeking needed. Health literacy is about improving understanding of health information so that health messages can be understood and, hopefully, acted upon. Levels of health insurance literacy may rise as more people have access to, learn to navigate and use health insurance. If you end up needing care, the plan will pay a portion of it. Development of the health insurance literacy measure hilm ncbi. Using a questionnaire to identify someones health literacy level may help. Insurance health literacy frameworks change4health.
But the health insurance maze can be a problem, especially if you have. Most are focused on to reading and the ability assess healthrelated materials. Development of the health insurance literacy measure hilm. There is a dearth of usable information on the precise barriers facing consumers. These measures focus on insurance related terminology and scenarios which beneficiaries are likely to encounter when obtaining and paying for their health care and choosing a health plan. A report from the health insurance literacy expert roundtable.
Newly insured americans dont understand basic healthcare. The cahps health literacy item sets ask about providers efforts to foster and improve the health literacy of patients. The american institute for research air has developed an issue brief that presents a useful health insurance literacy framework that includes four domains. Health literacy is a persons capacity to find, understand, and use basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. Measuring health insurance literacy american institutes for. Understanding consumers ability to choose and use insurance kathryn paez, juli goldstein, and deepa ganachari fulfilling the potential of the patient protection and affordable care act hinges upon consumers understanding of health insurance and their options for coverage. Low levels of selfreported literacy and numeracy create.
New measures of health literacy need to be 0% 5% 44% 51%based on sound theory. While millions of americans have newly gained health insurance coverage under the affordable care act aca, there is evidence that coverage alone does not necessarily translate into access to health care. Air worked with experts across the nation to create and validate a health insurance literacy measure hilm to gauge peoples ability to find and evaluate information about health plans, select the best plan given individual financial and health circumstances, and use the plan once enrolled. Beyond those standards, one clinician says, they ought to learn health literacy with topics that include preventive care, public policy and health insurance terminology such as deductibles and costsharing. Health literacy hl is seen as an increasingly relevant issue for global public health and requires a reliable and comprehensive operationalization. Oct 02, 2014 air worked with experts across the nation to create and validate a health insurance literacy measure hilm to gauge peoples ability to find and evaluate information about health plans, select the best plan given individual financial and health circumstances, and use the plan once enrolled. Health insurance literacy the gateway to healthcare june 6, 2019 denise octavia smith, mba, chw. A call to action and report from the health insurance literacy expert roundtable. Rti international is developing and testing a new measure of health literacy. That is why choosing a health insurance plan that is right for you, and understanding how it works, may seem confusing. Health literacy involves the ability to obtain, process, and understand the health information necessary to make appropriate decisions, and. Knowledge of health insurance terms and concepts, types of healthcare services and enrollee rights.
Measuring health literacy in todays health care, we are accountable for our own health and responsible for making cautious healthrelated decisions based on available information. Health insurance policies vary in their purchase price and in the percentage theyll pay of the costs of services you use throughout the year. The success of the aca reform hinges on health literacy and health insurance literacy paez et al. Measurement of health literacy needs to be 0% 2% 38% 60%relevant to actual experiences. Health insurance coverage is key to accessing affordable, highquality care. A call to action iii for by the affordable care act. Because of this timing, the ambitious goal of the project team is to complete the formulation and testing of the measure by the end of 2012.
How to explore, select and use the health insurance plan that best meets their familys needs. You can call the governments marketplace call center at 18003182596 to ask a question. Health literacy measures must be implemented if there is to be balance and health literacy in the system. Health insurance literacy requires a variety of skills in addition to numeracy, comprehension, reading and writing. The final section of this report includes detailed instructions about how interested. This guide is for public library staff with limited prior knowledge of health insurance and resources to educate and assist consumers with coverage enrollment. Health literacy is a vital competence in accomplishing this. Assessing americans familiarity with health insurance. Most adolescents learn about exercise, nutrition, substance abuse and sexual health as part of their school curriculums. Elizabeth lukanen, state health access data assistance center. Health insurance literacy uva student health university of virginia. Health insurance literacy measurement project center for.
The toolkit for making written material clear and effective is a health literacy resource from the centers for medicare and medicaid services cms. The objective of this r01 project funded by the national institutes of health nih is to create a publicly available health literacy instrument that can be used for populationbased surveillance and for measuring an individuals health literacy in intervention. Consumers have serious difficulties understanding and using health insurance. These health insurance difficulties take a toll on consumers health and financial wellbeing, and they have cost implications for health plans and the nation. Different surveys measure peoples literacy, numeracy, and health literacy skills and their experiences with healthcare. Possible consensus statements and responses strongly strongly disagree disagree agree agreenew measures of health literacy need to be 1% 8% 38% 53%developed. This report presents results from a 2016 survey measuring the hil of 516 adult connecticut residents enrolled in a qualified health plan qhp through access health ct. Some people can get health insurance through a group health plan offered by their employer or their spouses employer. To answer this question, air researchers developed the health insurance literacy measure, which consists of 21 selfreport questions assessing selfconfidence and behaviors associated with choosing. Nov 17, 2016 healthcare insurance literacy vital for higher coverage rate research shows that individuals with higher levels of healthcare insurance literacy will be more likely to be insured. Health insurance literacy university health center. Education was associated with low health literacy on the realm and brief, but not the stofhla.
The action plan charges health professionals with communicating in clear and simple ways to the patient. Health insurance literacy measure and report health insurance navigation support create and test. A survey about the affordable care acts first open enrollment period, op. While health literacy has been widely studied and measured, health insurance literacy has not. Measuring health insurance literacy american institutes. Jan 22, 2014 health literacy involves the ability to obtain, process, and understand the health information necessary to make appropriate decisions, and its clearly essential to selecting health insurance. Health insurance uses the contributions of all members of the plan to cover a share of the cost of medical care for everyone under the plan. Health literacy health insurance project read youtube. Health insurance literacy measures the degree to which individuals have the knowledge, ability, and confidence to find and evaluate information about health plans, select the best plan for their own or their familys financial and health circumstances, and use the plan once enrolled measuring health insurance literacy. Its not a news flash that health insurance can be complex and confusing. The table below lists a selection of commonly used questions and test formats instruments to.
Although understanding health insurance is central to affording and accessing health care in the united states, studies of consumers and health insurance have lacked a clear definition of health insurance literacy or a conceptual framework. While millions of americans have newly gained health insurance coverage under the affordable care act aca, there is evidence that coverage alone does. Pdf development of the health insurance literacy measure. Health literacy and health insurance literacy alliance for health. By now, there is limited evidence on how the development of tools measuring hl proceeded in recent years and if scholars considered existing methodological guidance when developing an instrument.
In this respect, a distinction between factual and procedural knowledge is fruitful to allow a valid assessment of both subdimensions. Health insurance literacy survey reports people with private health insurance must have sufficient literacy skills to understand when, where, and how to access health services and avoid costly errors caused by using plan benefits incorrectly. Measuring health literacy health literacy measurement tools have generally focused on individual capacity rather than the skills that promote improved selfcare and health outcomes. Nurses must play a critical role to enhance health literacy article in nursing outlook 661 november 2017 with 124 reads how we measure reads. Generally it is acknowledged as having two distinctive elements. Health insurance literacy, the focus of our research, is defined as the degree to. May 30, 2012 possible consensus statements and responses strongly strongly disagree disagree agree agreenew measures of health literacy need to be 1% 8% 38% 53%developed.
Qqidentify opportunities for promotion, education, and outreach around health insurance literacy. Several largescale surveys provide estimates of peoples literacy, numeracy, and health literacy skills. Age was associated with low health literacy on the stofhla and brief, but not on the realm. A call to action enroll america a report from enroll america detailing the connection between health insurance literacy and coverage retention may 2015 a framework on health insurance literacy for the outreach and enrollment community. Allen said earlier in her presentation, if there are no data, there is no problem. Therefore, recognising people with low health literacy is difficult.
The authors developed a conceptual model of health insurance literacy based on formative research and. In 2010, the federal government announced the plain writing act, 23. Measuring health insurance coverage with the current population survey and the american community survey marina vornovitsky, ph. This 11part toolkit provides a detailed and comprehensive set of tools to help you make written material in printed formats easier for people to read, understand, and use. Health insurance literacy in connecticut volume 1 april 2017 health disparities institute health insurance literacy survey report a summary of the results of the first study to measure health insurance literacy among onnecticut residents enrolled in private health insurance plans under the affordable are act. Health insurance literacy refers to the degree to which individuals have the knowledge, ability, and confidence to find and evaluate information about health plans, select the best plan for their circumstances, and use the plan once enrolled. This issue brief describes the findings from interviews with health insurance counselors and other stakeholders about problems consumers face in selecting and using health insurance. A framework on health insurance literacy for the outreach. The release 1 of the national action plan to improve health literacy 2 nap is a collaborative effort that began in 2003, with financial, moral, and intellectual support from several of the department of health and human services hhs agencies. Abel points out that health literacy has very different meanings depending on the context, and measuring health literacy will be best achieved where content and context are well defined abel, 2008.
It also lays out a strategy to develop an important new tool. There are both private and public health insurance plans, with different plans offering different benefits. Understanding how your health insurance works is your responsibility. A perilous gap in health insurance literacy the henry j. Minority status was associated with low health literacy on the realm and stofhla, but not the brief. Extension has a long history of helping limited resource individuals and families obtain the services. To bring the following two health insurance literacy workshops to minnesota, we have partnered with. Healthy people 2020 and the national action plan to improve health literacy.
Healthcare insurance literacy vital for higher coverage rate research shows that individuals with higher levels of healthcare insurance literacy will be more likely to be insured. Putting health literacy on the agenda builds demand for measurement and action. Commonly used questions for measuring health literacy. Sebelius 2011 and the current lack of consumer knowledge about options and. These measures focus on insurancerelated terminology and scenarios which beneficiaries are likely to encounter when obtaining and paying for their health care and choosing a health plan. Health insurance literacy the gateway to healthcare. Taskbased literacy focuses on the extent to which a person can perform key literacy tasks such as read a basic text and write a simple statement. Pdf development of the health insurance literacy measure hilm. The survey shows that some qhp enrollees struggle to understand basic health insurance terminology and. Most are focused on to reading and the ability assess health related materials, and evaluate word recognition and reading comprehension.
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