https://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/issue_briefs/2019/rwjf451339?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosvitals&stream=top

People Googling for ACA coverage often found results that were actually trying to sell them skimpier short-term health plans, according to a report from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute.

Why it matters: Consumer confusion is one of the things regulators worried about most when the Trump administration expanded access to “short-term” coverage.

• For some people, especially those who do only need coverage for a short time, one of these more bare-bones options might be a better choice than the comprehensive policies sold under the ACA.
• But if you don’t realize you’re signing up for a plan with incredibly limited coverage and the right to drop you once you get sick, you could be in for a catastrophic surprise.
• That’s why HHS mandated a disclosure statement about the plans’ limited benefits.

Details: Researchers Googled terms including “cheap health insurance” and “Obamacare plans” and looked at the first 4 results — which are usually ads.

• Sites that included short-term plans “dominated the results,” though some of those sites also sell ACA-compliant plans. Sites varied in how much information they provided about the differences between the two types of plans.