Can Plan Recommendations Improve the Coverage Decisions of Vulnerable Populations in Health Insurance Marketplaces?

ABSTRACT:

Objective

The Affordable Care Act's marketplaces present an important opportunity for expanding coverage but consumers face enormous challenges in navigating through enrollment and re-enrollment. We tested the effectiveness of a behaviorally informed policy tool--plan recommendations--in improving marketplace decisions.

Study setting

Data were gathered from a community sample of 656 lower-income, minority, rural residents of Virginia.

Study design

We conducted an incentive-compatible, computer-based experiment using a hypothetical marketplace like the one consumers face in the federally-facilitated marketplaces, and examined their decision quality. Participants were randomly assigned to a control condition or three types of plan recommendations: social normative, phys

SUBMITTER: Barnes AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4814125 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature