CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- U.S. Sen Jay Rockefeller accused health insurance companies on Wednesday of routinely keeping customers in the dark about payments for their health care.

Rockefeller, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, believes insurance companies intentionally confuse consumers and use false statistics in calculating bills for health services outside their own networks.

"Today's hearing is about protecting consumers," Rockefeller said during his opening statement.

"Consumers can't make real choices because the insurance industry doesn't use standard language or definitions," he said. "And consumers can't challenge insurance companies' decisions because the companies don't explain the terms of coverage in clear, understandable language."

After listening to witnesses testify, Rockefeller asked, "Why is it so hard for consumers to get reliable information?

"When I get a prescription, I get documents with tiny type that you can't read them without a magnifying glass. There is a reason for that, making it so I won't read it."

One witness was Wendell Potter, a former CIGNA vice president and now a senior health care fellow at the Center on Media and Democracy in Madison, Wis.

"Most people are baffled by EOBs" -- the "explanation of benefits" clauses contained in insurance policies -- and "more than half the people in the country do not know what co-payments or co-insurance or prevailing allowances are," Potter said.

He said many people simply give up even trying to understand language in their health-insurance policies.

"Statements from the insurance industry have become far more complex," Potter said.

On Wednesday morning, Rockefeller released a new report by the Senate Office of Oversight and Investigations called "Underpayments to Consumers by the Health Insurance Industry."

"The largest health insurance companies in the United States have been under-reimbursing their customers for out-of-network health-care services," the report stated. "Americans consumers have paid billions of dollars for health care services that their insurance companies should have paid."

Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5164.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- U.S. Sen Jay Rockefeller accused health insurance companies on Wednesday of routinely keeping customers in the dark about payments for their health care.

Rockefeller, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, believes insurance companies intentionally confuse consumers and use false statistics in calculating bills for health services outside their own networks.

"Today's hearing is about protecting consumers," Rockefeller said during his opening statement.

"Consumers can't make real choices because the insurance industry doesn't use standard language or definitions," he said. "And consumers can't challenge insurance companies' decisions because the companies don't explain the terms of coverage in clear, understandable language."

After listening to witnesses testify, Rockefeller asked, "Why is it so hard for consumers to get reliable information?

"When I get a prescription, I get documents with tiny type that you can't read them without a magnifying glass. There is a reason for that, making it so I won't read it."

One witness was Wendell Potter, a former CIGNA vice president and now a senior health care fellow at the Center on Media and Democracy in Madison, Wis.

"Most people are baffled by EOBs" -- the "explanation of benefits" clauses contained in insurance policies -- and "more than half the people in the country do not know what co-payments or co-insurance or prevailing allowances are," Potter said.

He said many people simply give up even trying to understand language in their health-insurance policies.

"Statements from the insurance industry have become far more complex," Potter said.

On Wednesday morning, Rockefeller released a new report by the Senate Office of Oversight and Investigations called "Underpayments to Consumers by the Health Insurance Industry."

"The largest health insurance companies in the United States have been under-reimbursing their customers for out-of-network health-care services," the report stated. "Americans consumers have paid billions of dollars for health care services that their insurance companies should have paid."

Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5164.