Beginning today, HealthCare.gov is piloting a new beta feature that allows consumers to search plans by their preferred provider or health facility. Some consumers will be part of a pilot that allows them to use the beta Doctor Lookup feature as they compare their coverage options in window shopping or when selecting a plan.
“The Doctor Lookup feature at HealthCare.gov is a direct result of consumer demand,” said Kevin Counihan, CEO of the Health Insurance Marketplace. “Our goal is to provide consumers with relevant, personal and more up-to-date information about a plan before enrolling. We thank the Marketplace health plans who have now made this information available to the public.
“This phased-in approach will reach about one in four visitors to HealthCare.gov – selected at random – allowing us to examine the consumer experience with the feature and to analyze the quality of the data based on consumer feedback as we finalize the feature and determine how best to meet consumer needs.”
In this early stage, some data will be missing or may be inaccurate. As of today, HealthCare.gov has access to data from more than 90 percent of insurance companies on the Marketplace. If an insurance company has not provided validated data, consumers will be alerted when they search for a provider that there is “no data from insurance company.”
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