Shopping on the Public and Private Health Insurance Marketplaces: Consumer Decision Aids and Plan Presentation.

Background: The design of the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) health insurance marketplaces influences complex health plan choices.

Objective: To compare the choice environments of the public health insurance exchanges in the fourth (OEP4) versus third (OEP3) open enrollment period and to examine online marketplace run by private companies, including a total cost estimate comparison.

Design: In November-December 2016, we examined the public and private online health insurance exchanges.

For Third Enrollment Period, Marketplaces Expand Decision Support Tools To Assist Consumers.

The design of the Affordable Care Act's online health insurance Marketplaces can improve how consumers make complex health plan choices. We examined the choice environment on the state-based Marketplaces and HealthCare.gov in the third open enrollment period.