Consumers clueless on healthcare reform

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SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 8 (UPI) -- Most U.S. adults don't understand the most fundamental change -- the bronze, silver, gold and platinum health plans -- under Obamacare, a U.S. survey says.

Bruce Telkamp, chief executive officer of HealthPocket, a website that compares and ranks all health plans available, said when survey respondents were asked "How will the new Obamacare bronze, silver, gold and platinum health plans always differ from one another?" 86 percent said they did not know.

Only 4 percent selected the correct answer "the percentage of medical costs covered by insurance," Telkamp said.

The Affordable Care Act creates four basic health plan designs to replace existing health plans and address the needs of most healthcare shoppers who are not enrolled in a grandfathered health plan, Medicaid or Medicare. All plans will share a mandatory set of insurance coverage features known as essential health benefits.

The new plans differ from one another based on the percentage of medical expenses paid by the insurance plan, ranging from 60 percent of expenses to 90 percent of expenses, Telkamp said.

"Open enrollment for the new Affordable Care Act plans is only six months away and consumers still don't understand how the health insurance market will have transformed," Telkamp said in a statement.

The InfoPoll survey of 913 people was conducted March 26-31. No other survey details were provided.