The rise of narrow networks (and the havoc they are creating for some consumers) has been widely covered this past year. Despite the well-publicized controversies, narrow networks have their place as long as critical buyer education is in place.
So, while it is safe to say there have been plenty of bumps, it’s also safe to say there have been few solutions.
In California, narrow or “limited” networks are pervasive, and there has been no shortage of news stories about them during the last year, especially in the context of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). For example, there was extensive coverage on how the provider directory on “Covered California” was so riddled with errors it had to be removed… more than once.
For affected consumers, this made the healthcare shopping experience a bit like purchasing a warranty assuming full replacement value without knowing certain key parts and occurrences are not covered. And in the case of health insurance, once something is “broken” and you have those critical details, it is too late to back out. Stories of frustrated California consumers were plentiful, including tales of mis-information, denied claims and unforeseen bills.
Although those kinds of frustrations (given the circumstances) aren’t really surprising, we were surprised to see the LA Times take it upon itself to offer a solution. As the 2015 enrollment season was approaching, and after noting that narrow networks are here to stay, the LA Times created a physician search tool: “Find Obamacare doctors in California.”
While doctor databases are not new, typically only individual health insurers track which physicians participate in their own plans. In comparison, the LA Times tool aggregates all the plans in which a doctor participates within Covered California. How very Amazon-like to be able to search on criteria that matters to the individual!
We find it interesting that this very positive example of retail-style healthcare marketing is coming not from the state or plans themselves, but the media. Even still, with the task of healthcare “shopping” requiring consumers to have more user-friendly information as they hunt for the right plans, we do anticipate this enrollment period will bring about other interesting tools… including some from the exchanges and from payers.