title: How easy/difficult to find information about individual health insurance on the Internet: an examination of ten "quote" web sites.
abstract: Ten quote web sites were evaluated to examine the level of difficulty in finding information about individual health insurance. The degrees of ease/difficulty were measured in terms of the number of items to be filled out on the form in order to get a quote. Also examined were whether the quote web sites revealed their identity and whether they provided information about the health plans they quoted. The results showed that some quote web sites did not reveal information about themselves fully. The degrees of ease or difficulty varied from site to site. Not all quote web sites could provide quotes instantly. Among those that provided a quote, the amount of information given on the health plans also varied. Despite the difficulties, the internet has the potential to provide sufficient information.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Management and Informatics, School of Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Kui Chan
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: MaryEllen C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Sievert
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D007348:Insurance, Health; D020407:Internet