People who obtain health insurance through the public insurance exchanges may be more satisfied, and more savvy insurance shoppers, than those with employer-based coverage.
That finding comes from Deloitte's 2016 Survey of U.S. Healthcare Consumers. The study examined buying behaviors, decisions and actions of those who obtained insurance coverage through a government exchange. Deloitte surveyed 3,751 adults ages 18-years and older, 804 of which reported buying coverage through one of the exchanges.
The report defined exchange consumers as those who reported purchasing health plans on the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
Below are seven survey findings.
1. More than twice as many consumers who bought coverage on the exchanges (67 percent) reported using online information sources to compare insurance price and quality than those with employer coverage (30 percent).
2. Slightly more exchange consumers (66 percent) said they used online tools to compare out-of-pocket medical expenses than those with employer coverage (58 percent).
3. More than half (53 percent) of exchange consumers said they are satisfied with their health plan overall. This is about the same satisfaction rate as those with employer insurance (54 percent).
4. Seven out of 10 exchange consumers said they had no financial difficulty paying for out-of-pocket medical expenses in the past year.
5. The number of exchange consumers who reported feeling confident they had access to affordable care jumped from 24 percent in 2015 to 45 percent in 2016.
6. Overall, only one in four exchange consumers said they experienced higher out-of-pocket costs than they anticipated.
7. Exchange consumers were more willing than last year to sacrifice network benefits in exchange for lower insurance payments. These tradeoffs included a smaller network of hospitals (27 percent in 2016 compared to 18 percent in 2015), a network that does not include their current primary care provider (26 percent in 2016 compared to 16 percent in 2015), and a smaller network of doctors (26 percent in 2016 compared to 18 percent in 2015).
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