When purchasing health insurance, consumers often don't have a complete sense of what will be covered in the event of a serious illness. This policy briefing presented a comparison of cost-sharing and coverage for various products in the California individual and small group markets in the event of breast cancer, heart attack, and diabetes.

The speakers were:

• Karen Pollitz, research and project director, Georgetown University Health Policy Institute
• Eliza Bangit, senior research associate, Georgetown University Health Policy Institute

Highlights of the presentation were:

• How opaque the information about health insurance cost and coverage is to consumers, regulators, and researchers. The researchers suggested that with the current system, there is so much complexity that there is no real choice, just "traps."
• A small debate around health savings accounts and whether federal standards present a comprehensive out-of-pocket limit.
• A Stockton Record reporter attended and wrote a story in response to the briefing, "Report Urges Disclosure Reform on Health Coverage," May 16, 2009.

The presentation slides are available under Document Downloads. The original report is available under External Links.