Just in Time for Open Enrollment, Free Educational Resources on Health Insurance

Open enrollment is the period when you can enroll in or make changes to a health plan. Having clear information about health insurance right now is especially important because the federal open enrollment period lasts just 45 days, from November 1, 2017 to December 15, 2017—half as long as it did last year.

Recently enhanced and redesigned, fairhealthconsumer.org offers tools for estimating medical and dental costs, as well as the following types of educational information:

FH^® Insurance Basics
This section covers such basics as the difference between an HMO and a PPO, and how a deductible differs from a copay. It includes more than 40 consumer-friendly articles under such categories as:

• Choosing Your Health Plan (e.g., Types of Health Plans);
• Your Costs (e.g., Flexible Spending Plans);
• Choosing Your Healthcare Provider (e.g., In-Network and Out-of-Network Care);
• Dental Coverage (e.g., Dental Plans);
• Understanding Your Bill (e.g., How to Review Your Medical Bill); and
• Your Rights (e.g., Appealing a Reimbursement Decision).

FH Glossary
This section is a glossary of common health insurance, medical and dental terms. The health insurance terms range from "allowed amount" to "usual and customary rate."

FH Healthcare Quality Toolkit
This section explains how to use established healthcare quality measures to make informed decisions about care.

Resources
This section links to state agencies concerned with health and insurance, and to organizations focused on:

• Healthcare costs;
• Locating providers;
• Insurance appeals and assistance;
• Quality of care, literacy and reform;
• Wellness;
• Dental/oral health; and
• Disabilities and health conditions.

"Because of the complexities of the healthcare system, open enrollment can be a daunting time for many people," said FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd. "We hope that the educational resources available on fairhealthconsumer.org will make health insurance and healthcare more accessible."

For employers or health plans interested in licensing a private-label version of fairhealthconsumer.org to share with their employees or members, contact FAIR Health by email at [email protected] or by phone at 855-301-3247, Monday through Friday, 9 am to 6 pm ET.

Follow us on Twitter @FAIRHealth

About FAIR Health

FAIR Health is a national, independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information through data products, consumer resources and health systems research support. FAIR Health possesses the nation's largest collection of private healthcare claims data, which includes over 24 billion claim records contributed by payors and administrators who insure or process claims for private insurance plans covering more than 150 million individuals. FAIR Health also holds separate data representing the experience of more than 55 million individuals enrolled in Medicare. Certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as a Qualified Entity, FAIR Health receives all of Medicare Parts A, B and D claims data for use in nationwide transparency efforts. FAIR Health licenses its privately billed data and data products—including benchmark modules, data visualizations, custom analytics, episodes of care analytics and market indices—to commercial insurers and self-insurers, employers, hospitals and healthcare systems, government agencies, researchers and others. FAIR Health has earned HITRUST CSF and Service Organization Controls (SOC 2) certifications by meeting the rigorous data security standards of those organizations. As a testament to the reliability and objectivity of FAIR Health data, the data have been incorporated in statutes and regulations around the country and designated as the official, neutral data source for a variety of state health programs, including workers' compensation and personal injury protection (PIP) programs. FAIR Health data serve as an official reference point in support of certain state balance billing laws that protect consumers against bills for surprise out-of-network and emergency services. FAIR Health also uses its database to power a free consumer website available in English and Spanish and an English/Spanish mobile app, which enable consumers to estimate and plan their healthcare expenditures and offer a rich educational platform on health insurance. The website has been honored by the White House Summit on Smart Disclosure, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), URAC, the eHealthcare Leadership Awards, appPicker, Employee Benefit News and Kiplinger's Personal Finance. FAIR Health also is named a top resource for patients in Elisabeth Rosenthal's book, An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back. For more information on FAIR Health, visit fairhealth.org.

Contact:
Dean Sicoli
Executive Director of Communications and Public Relations
FAIR Health
646-664-1645
[email protected]

SOURCE FAIR Health