On-line answers

Disseminating health insurance information used to be the realm of benefits providers and human resources professionals, but now the Internet plays a major role in providing that information.

Five years ago there wasn't much information to be found by surfing the Web, but today the Internet plays a huge role in health insurance, says Kevin Sampson, president of Health Benefits Associates. Four of the main areas where the Internet now plays a vital role:

* Providing quotes about individual and family health insurance plans.

* Online enrollment for HR professionals to add new employees to groups.

* Online benefit information for employees on group health insurance plans.

* Location of in-network doctors for specific health plans.

"It started with the ease of insurance companies to provide information to more people, whether it is an individual looking for a quote or an employee looking for their benefits schedule or a doctor," Sampson says.

In addition, the information found on provider Web sites typically is more current than printed literature.

"Many of these sites are updated daily, so that the benefits are so current and the pricing is so accurate that the old paper method became obsolete," Sampson says. "When we pick up a Preferred Provider Organization book of lists of doctors, there is always someone who dropped out since the last printing of the book. Online providers and benefits are much more updated."

Valerie Clark, president of Clark and Associates, says the Internet provides a much faster and cleaner way of navigating through a health benefits plan, from filing claims to enrolling employees.

"A lot of carriers have their own online enroll and administration tools where you can enroll and terminate or change a plan design," Clark says. "It makes the portions of enrolling and changing insurance paperless, which results in less errors and less time. There is less faxing and copying it is a lot cleaner, more timely and more streamlined."

And HR professionals routinely use online tools provided by carrier Web sites to access vital employee enrollment information.

"It is instant retrieval of information, especially regarding when an employee became eligible, when they went on plan and who came onto the plan with them, did that employee sign up dependents, what their contribution is and any changes all of those infinite details are on one sheet, one page of the HR professional's desktop," Sampson says.

And there is a growing use of online resources to help users make better and more informed decisions about their healthcare.

"The preventative tools that are online now can be quite phenomenal," Clark says. "There is a huge spectrum of things you can get on a company's Web site that allow you to be more comprehensive with your health benefits.

"There are a lot of self-service types of sites where you can access explanations of benefits, diseases and wellness information, all sorts of medical information to help you make better decisions."

Using the Internet to manage health care does have certain drawbacks, though. Lost is the personal interface between benefits brokers and users.

"It used to be that we enjoyed a lot of the contact, but the Internet doesn't let us be as personable as we want to be," Sampson says. "We like the interaction and contact with our clients. We want to talk to clients to see how they are feeling, see what they want to be happening. We will get a call when the Internet doesn't work; that is where we come in as a brokerage we try to wedge our way between the HR professional and the employee. That is our objective."