BOSTON – OpenNotes is pleased to announce that ten extraordinary advocates for health care quality and improvement are the founding members of the OpenNotes Advisory Board. “This is an outstanding
James Guest
JAMA Viewpoint: Consumers Gaining Ground in Health Care
James A. Guest and Lynn Quincy from Consumer Reports discuss public and private health initiatives that are giving consumers more information and more fair opportunities when it comes to obtaining health insurance and health care: “This year has also seen a leap forward in concepts like OpenNotes, a transparency movement that invites and enables patients to review…
Consumers Gaining Ground in Health Care
At long last public and private initiatives are on the verge of giving consumers more information and more fair opportunities when it comes to obtaining health insurance and health care, reducing the uneven care and dysfunctional financing that have long plagued the health care system in the United States.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is recasting the marketplace for health insurance, allowing consumers who shop on their own to make more informed choices among a better selection of health plans. Health insurers must now play by a different set of rules. Consumers with preexisting conditions are no longer denied insurance. The products for sale are more standardized, and important loopholes such as misleading out-of-pocket maximums have been closed. Private plans can be compared on an apples-to-apples basis using a new Summary of Benefits and Coverage form that standardizes the way coverage is described no matter which company or organization is offering it.
