Do consumers know how their health plan works?

Expanding consumer choice of plans is beneficial only to the extent that co nsumers make informed choices. Using data from the 1996-97 Community Tracki ng Study (CTS), this study compares consumers' responses on four key attrib utes of their health plan with information provided directly by the plan. P lan attributes relate to choice of providers and access to specialists. Alt hough the accuracy of reporting some individual attributes was fairly high, fewer than one-third of consumers accurately reported all four health plan attributes. In general, consumers tended to overreport plan restrictions, especially the need for approval to see specialists.