Consumers can rate health plans on quality of care, satisfaction

The Associated Press
News Fuze

Article Launched: 8 7 07

SACRAMENTO-Consumers soon may be getting more information about their insurance plans.

The California Department of Insurance is putting together a health care report card for six of the state's largest preferred provider organizations, known as PPOs.

The report cards will give information about quality of care and patient satisfaction so consumers have something to use to compare plans. The program will begin in 2009 and is the first of its kind, according to the insurance department.

Health maintenance organizations, which operate closed networks, already report similar data. But PPOs, which cover two-thirds of insured people, do not.

PPOs operate physician and hospital networks that give care at reduced fees. They often allow patients who are willing to pay more to get care outside their networks.

California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner said that when the report cards come out it will be the first time "people with PPO plans will be able to get data on how good their policy really is."

But some health care advocates say insurers need to do more.

"We welcome any involvement on the part of the state to monitor the insurance industry more aggressively, which is something it has long failed to do," said Williams Shernoff, a partner in Shernoff, Bidart & Darras of Claremont, which specializes in consumer insurance cases.

But, he said, "This is like a Band-Aid that won't do anything about problems like insurers denying care or pulling people's coverage for no reason."

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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com