A Fun Way to Help People Make a Serious Health Insurance Decision

National Patient Organization Releases New Interactive Tool and Spanish Guide

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Sep 17, 2015, 09:53 ET

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- People buying or renewing their health insurance through the exchanges will be able to begin picking a plan for 2016 in less than two months. Which plan they choose could make a big difference in how much or how little they spend on health care next year.

Unexpected life events - such as an injury, medical diagnosis, or even a shark attack! - can affect your annual out-of-pocket health costs. There's now a fun way at www.PuttingPatientsFirst.net to learn how to make the serious decision about picking an insurance plan that meets your health and budget needs.

To help people shop wisely for health insurance that meets both their health and budget needs, the National Health Council has created an interactive game at puttingpatientsfirst.net/explore_my_options to show how unexpected life experiences – a broken leg, a serious car crash, an unexpected medical diagnosis, even a shark attack (!) – can affect their health costs.

Visitors to the website spin a wheel to explore how unexpected life events affect the number of doctor visits, hospitalizations, and medications a person may need in a year. A chart appears listing how annual out-of-pocket costs vary depending on the scenario and whether a person has a bronze, silver, gold, or platinum health plan.

The game is a fun way to learn how to avoid costly mistakes when selecting health insurance.

PuttingPatientsFirst.net also includes a personalized out-of-pocket calculator where people can put in their own unique health information and generate a customized report showing how the different types of plans offered in their state affect their out-of-pocket costs. In addition, the report now comes with a How-To Guide in both English (http://bit.ly/1OHGNLc) and Spanish (http://bit.ly/1LooQ0U), which explains what to consider when picking a health insurance plan.

Shopping for health insurance is serious business. PuttingPatientsFirst.net adds a little bit of fun to the process and is the perfect first step to understanding health insurance options in each state.

About the NHC – www.nationalhealthcouncil.org
Founded in 1920, the National Health Council (NHC) is the only organization that brings together all segments of the health community to provide a united and effective voice for the more than 133 million people living with chronic diseases and disabilities and their family caregivers. Made up of more than 100 national health-related organizations and businesses, its core membership includes the nation's leading patient advocacy organizations, which control its governance.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150917/267578

SOURCE National Health Council