A new Consumer Reports survey of 37,000 members of either an HMO or PPO reports that 67% of those insured are happy with their insurers. Granted, this is considerably lower than satisfaction levels for other services, but it’s still surprising to find that a clear majority of insured Americans are okay with their current levels of service. Some interesting stats:

• 10% had trouble getting an appointment to see a doctor
• 21% had to deal with billing errors
• 25% had problems with their primary care providers
• 36% had trouble getting help when they called a plan representative for assistance

Those with serious illnesses faced far more problems than those who were not seriously ill, which is what we’d expect of an industry that treats healthy people as “good customers” and sick people as “bad” ones.

The survey also finds that HMOs and PPOs vary widely – neither category is overwhelmingly better, although HMO participants faced more problems getting appointments, while PPO participants had more trouble getting reimbursed.

Rating the health plans [Consumer Reports]

(Photo: Getty)

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