Study: Young adults suggest improvements to federal insurance benefits exchange

HealthCare.gov experienced numerous technical difficulties during the first open enrollment period, and a recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found educated young adults find the usability of the website continues to be an issue.

The study asked 33 highly-educated, tech-savvy professionals between the ages of 19 and 30 about their decision-making while navigating HealthCare.gov in Pennsylvania. The study’s aim was to pinpoint which parts of the site remained difficult to use and how those issues affected their ability to select a health plan. Young adults remain one of the targeted markets for the state and federal exchanges because having strong enrollment in health plans by this demographic is important to keeping costs low. The study was conducted from January to March of this year.

Many participants suggested small ways in which the website could be improved. Some of the recommendations included renaming the catastrophic insurance category to one that is not as fear-inducing and providing a glossary of terms for customers to better understand their options. Other suggestions were to create filters for enrollees to better sift through the vast amount of information on the site, according to The Daily Caller.