Decoding Your Health Insurance: The New Summary of Benefits and Coverage

Consumers need clear information on their health insurance, but what insurance companies provide is often hard to understand. The Affordable Care Act now requires insurers to give consumers concise, standardized, plain-language descriptions called the Summary of Benefits and Coverage. These summaries will allow people to make apples-to-apples comparisons among plans and to choose plans based on value rather than on cost alone.

This report provides data on the numbers of people who will be helped who are

• shopping for insurance in the individual market or
• choosing among plans offered by their employer

It also includes a sample Summary of Benefits and Coverage.