Table 3.
Decision factors considered by participants during the enrollment process compared across decision aid (virtual benefits counselor [VBC] vs human resources [HR] website) and pre-experiment knowledge test (KT) scores (low vs high).
| Decision factor | Definition | Example quotes | VBC (n=8), n (%) | HR website (n=8), n (%) | Low KT score (n=7), n (%) | High KT score (n=8), n (%) |
| Network size | Consideration of the size of the network or whether their providers or specialists were within the network | “HMO is not a good thing. I mean, it’s not good. I knew it, but based on your information, again, it’s not good for out of network at all. But still there’s a high probability that I will be out of network, so I want to have some coverage for that specific thing.” [ID01, VBC] | 6 (75) | 7 (88) | 6 (86) | 6 (75) |
| Premium costs | The monthly premium costs for each plan | “Those [premiums] are really the costs that I care about more, because if I’m going to be paying it [...] every single month I’ll want to know that.” [ID06, VBC] | 5 (63) | 6 (75) | 5 (71) | 5 (63) |
| Use costs | Copays, coinsurance, and deductible costs | “It’s talking about the lower deductible at $250 a person or $500 a family.” [ID07, HR website] | 6 (75) | 7 (88) | 4 (57) | 8 (100) |
| Coverage costs | Costs associated with specific treatments, procedures, or care and whether they are covered by the plan | “Generally, I have drug costs [...] so, now I went into the plan because I wanted to see if there was anything on the cost of specialty drugs. [...] Everything I was reading about confirmed that it was the right type of drug [...] it just didn’t tell me the cost. I’m doing the same thing here looking for the cost of the specialty drug, which is 100% covered under the HMO.” [ID15, HR website] | 7 (88) | 6 (75) | 5 (71) | 7 (88) |
| Estimated out-of-pocket costs | The total yearly estimated out-of-pocket costs | “What I was trying to do overall was figure out my total cost for the year in each plan. So then, I had to figure out $500 a year and that’s when I did the premium $420 versus $50 like what the $35 a month savings was. The high-deductible that was again like - the savings would be not enough because the out-of-pocket max is so high.” [ID15, HR website] | 6 (75) | 6 (75) | 6 (86) | 5 (63) |
| Ease of use of plan | How easy it was to use the plan to access and pay for care | “I’m just more familiar with the HMO and all of our – we haven’t had an issue where we couldn’t really find a provider that was under a plan because, you know, should you have chances, it’s pretty – yeah, it’s pretty accessible.” [ID16, VBC] | 3 (38) | 3 (38) | 2 (29) | 4 (50) |
| Ease of understanding the plan | How easy it was to understand the plan | “It seems to me that the HMO is, you know, easier to understand. I tend, you know, not to trust… these two [Plan Name] plans, because it is confusing.” [ID02, HR website] | 2 (25) | 2 (25) | 3 (43) | 1 (13) |