Lynn Quincy is a senior health policy analyst for Consumers Union–the policy and advocacy division of Consumer Reports. Quincy works on a wide variety of health policy issues that often focus on consumer protections, consumers’ health insurance literacy, and health insurance reform at the federal and state levels.
In this podcast, Quincy talks with Helen Osborne about:
- Choosing a health plan. Why this task is often so hard for consumers.
- Ways to make this experience easier and more consumer-friendly.
- Strategies to help, including: choice architecture, cognitive shortcuts, stories, visuals, and doing the math for consumers.
More Ways to Learn:
- Consumers Union: Health Care. At www.consumersunion.org/health
- Choice Architecture: Design Decisions that Affect Consumers’ Health Plan Choices (July 2012). By Kleimann Communications Group, Inc., and Consumers Union. At http://www.consumersunion.org/pdf/Choice_Architecture_Report.pdf
- What’s Behind the Door: Consumers’ Difficulties Selecting Health Plans (January 2012). Health Policy Brief from Consumers Union. At http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/pdf/Consumer%20Difficulties%20Selecting%20Health%20Plans%20Jan%202012.pdf
- Facilitating State Health Exchange Communication Through the Use of Health Literacy Practices: Workshop Summary (2012). Institute of Medicine, Roundtable on Health Literacy. At http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2012/Facilitating-State-Health-Exchange-Communication-Through-the-Use-of-Health-Literate-Practices.aspx
Excellent content, Helen! This is going to be so helpful to me as I start to develop materials for a local course I am proposing to teach on health literacy. So timely!
So glad you interviewed Lynn. She and I have been working together to conceptualize, measure and teach health insurance literacy. I am leading a multi-state Cooperative Extension health insurance literacy initiative to help consumers make smart choices. Lynn’s research and guidance are undergirding our efforts. Her podcast should be useful to many people.