Consumers dread shopping for health insurance and deciphering health insurance documents. We know, because Consumers Union conducted several studies in which we asked consumers how they shop for health insurance, and they told us so.

One of the provisions in the Affordable Care Act is going to make this task a little easier by making insurance companies give you standard “health insurance facts”—written in plain English—for every private product they offer, starting in 2012.

The information will have the same format for every product, just like the familiar Nutrition Facts label that looks the same whether you’re buying a box of cereal or a can of soup. Whether you get health insurance from your employer or buy on your own, you’ll see the same form. Here’s an example of what it will look like.

One exciting new feature, called “Coverage Examples,” will cut through the confusing math of deductibles, coinsurance and the like by giving you the bottom line of what you would owe out-of-pocket for selected common medical scenarios, such as having a baby.

Our consumer testing found that consumers liked this feature because it made it easier to understand how much coverage they were getting from a health plan.

There is no doubt that consumers need much better disclosures. We’ve heard too many stories of consumers who purchased health insurance without realizing how skimpy the coverage was.

—Lynn Quincy, Senior Policy Analyst, Health Care Reform