Advancing a shared conversation to enhance health care enrollment in the united states-a timely opportunity and challenge for health literacy

摘要

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) provisions that will be implemented January 1, 2014 change the health care system in the United States in many ways. Among the changes is the requirement that everyone have health insurance or pay a penalty. New health insurance marketplaces are being created to help consumers find health insurance that fits their needs. Health insurance enrollment through the marketplaces is scheduled to begin October 1, 2013 for health insurance coverage that will start January 1, 2014. But many questions exist about how the marketplaces will look and how consumers will find out what they need to know in order to get the best health insurance that fits their needs and their pocketbook. Last year, some participants in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Roundtable on Health Literacy Collaborative on Access, Health Care Coverage and Care began discussions aimed at identifying how to help the public understand what the ACA really means for them and to create materials that could be used to aid in understanding and choosing health insurance. As a result, three discussion papers representing the views of participants in these discussions were published by the IOM. Two of the discussion papers have hyperlinks to relevant tools designed to help advance a national conversation about understanding, choosing, and using health insurance under the ACA.