This series was originally posted on the Jensurance Facebook and Instagram. I'm including a supplementary page with a detailed description of each infographic and the full transcribed text from the images, with working hyperlinks. I realize now that screen readers can’t do anything with these the way I made them and I will keep that very much in mind going forward. To access the supplementary page, just click the button right above the image gallery. (Shout out to Arizona State University EdPlus and their amazing AI Image Accessibility tool! You just drag and drop an image into it and it produces the most amazing image descriptions, alt text, and text transcription in just seconds.)
I spent a lot of time researching these Q&A's and tried to pay particular attention to writing them in a way that someone without an insurance license can understand. It's easy to slip into using a bunch of industry jargon but I did my best to make the presentation as clear and easy to follow as possible. As always, I went through a mountain of links to find the best of the best, so you don’t have to worry about misinformation or no information at all. If you learn something from these, whether it was something you didn’t know or something you realized you’ve been misinformed about - please share them.
This series is from the questions I saw over and over again while doing keyword research and regularly checking Google’s “people also searched” and “people also ask” sections. Very few people have heard of or understand most insurance topics/concepts and there’s a good reason for it. If you’ve never been insured, of course you’re not going to know this stuff. They don’t teach it to us in school (at least not any school I went to) and I used to feel so embarrassed of not knowing what it meant (like at my first job that offered insurance. I had no idea what I was choosing or why when I picked my plan!)
Low health insurance/health literacy is a problem in this country, and it’s a problem of which most people aren’t even aware. According to the CDC, nearly 9 out of 10 adults struggle to understand and use personal and public health information when it’s filled with unfamiliar or complex terms. One third of employed Americans say they do not understand their health insurance coverage, and an even larger number of Medicare Advantage members say the same. If you don’t understand your coverage, you can’t use it. I know. I was one of those people myself until I got my insurance license. I had no idea what I was paying for and let so many benefits go to waste.
There are many barriers to health literacy: socioeconomic status, limited English proficiency, education and healthcare knowledge are just a few. However, low health literacy can also affect people regardless of their level of education, as 48% of those with low healthcare literacy completed college or obtained a graduate degree.
What can we do to help? Spread FACTS. Not rumors, not misinformation, not scare tactics, but FACTS. This is a community problem and it won’t get better until people become aware that it exists. We also have to be compassionate and let people know that there’s no shame in not knowing! It’s never too late to learn and (speaking from personal experience) it feels so good to be able to shop for insurance coverage in the Health Insurance Marketplace® when you know what it means and are able to make informed choices that you KNOW are good for you and your family.
Take these infographics and share them. Send them in emails, post them on socials, anywhere you think they’ll help even one person. Crop my information out if you want to but just share. Share facts. Share knowledge. Take them and share them and do your part to promote health insurance literacy!
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HOW TO HELP:
Don’t forget the Q&A Series: Image Descriptions, Transcript & Links supplementary page! Click the button below to check it out when you're done with the gallery:
Click the images below to enlarge them and feel free to save/share them if you like!
Health Insurance Marketplace® is a registered service mark of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.