I'm sure the section that tells you the policy must be stated in plain english is less than 30 pages.

There is no such thing as "plain" English. The word comes from the Latin for "flat" as in the great "plains". The phrase itself is just another in a long line of gibberish phrases forced on the docile american public by politicians hoping to mask their impotence in performace with strong sounding phrases which mean nothing.

It means SPEAK ENGLISH, NOT SPANISH!

How hard is that to understand?

Sigh...I can see it now...I'll be telling my grandkids, "In my day...the fine print WAS the fine print..."

People should never forget that real health depends how well you take care of yourself and not what health insurance you carry but I agree health insurance is important for every one. Search "Wise Health Insurance" online for dollar a day insurance plans.

Now if they could just make health insurance affordable to everyone. The poorest people are the sickest, mainly because they can't even afford the co pays, but also because they can't afford better food and medicine that the rich take for granted.

To the puke patewart that wants to tell everyone that its all about how well you take care of yourself, I say that only goes so far. There are many things that are out of our control, and as longs as the health insurance companies like the one he so casually pitched, are in the business not only to make a profit, but obscene profits at that, then the consumer will never get proper or affordable health care.

Until this country brings back or creates new jobs, they are soon going to be fining a lot of people for not being able to afford any health insurance. The government sure knows how to give all the rich tax breaks though. I would rather have a tax break of 2% on $1M, than 20% on $30k.

I'd be happy if the doctors would speak "plain English." Most of us don't have Latin. Tell us what is broken, sick, diseased in English, please. It's good that the insurance companies will have to speak in plain English. Now if only their rates would come down so people could actually afford insurance. I know many will criticize me, but to be charged a fine because you don't have insurance is obscene. In my state (Washington), it looks like the whole Basic Health care system (an insurance program for the poor) is going to be abandoned because of budget cuts. This will cause thousands to be without insurance. Many are going to die because they cannot afford insurance. It's very sad.

Now we have a precident to make the phone companies do the same thing--speeak in plain English.

Now we have a precident for phone billing--use plain English. What the heck is a Unit? Even the definitions they provide are not in plain English.

Another win for the 'Lower The Bar' approach. It's not a matter of readability, it's more a matter of many people not picking up the plan information and reading it. I've had people insist their plans have no copays and when I bring up the plan documents on the insurance website (the same documents GIVEN to the patients) the copay information is in a clearly labeled section that any 8 year-old could find and understand in seconds. When I also point out that it's on the card I get responses like, "Oh, I never really look at my card. I never read the material, it was too hard to understand so I didn't open the booklet." (And, yes, as contradictory as that second statement is, I've heard people utter it) And if I have to bring up the folks who think that their coverage is permanent (even after they stop paying premiums) and covers every possible thing, in full, w/ no deductibles or copayments just because they really want it to be that way I might have to throw up. "I just assumed..." is practically the default excuse for everything. "I just assumed I had dental/vision/mental health/etc. coverage because I bought this plan. Why didn't anyone tell me this before I came in?"

It will be good if the "legalese" and "medicalese" terms are clearly stated in words that everyone can understand without having to refer to a dictionary and perhaps typing the whole document out with the revised wording. Not all of us have the Latin and Greek language that pervades so much of medical and legal terms.

They need to expand the "plain" English to ALL types of Insurance, Legal Contracts, and Government Agencies (i.e. Social Security) There is no earthly reason for Court documents to be in such confusing wording that not even some lawyers can comprehend them. All legal agreements should be in the commonly used language of the land........in the USA that is English and before the ACLU goes ballistic about Ebonics, Spanglish, Hip hop and Appalachian I mean the language used in our Textbooks for the public school system. Individual Americans should not have to have a graduate degree in Law to understand the contract with their cell phone service or the warranty on a refrigerator.

1,300 individual Health Insurance Vampires all with their own special Labyrinth of a Mine Field of T's & C's drawn up by MBA Origami Magicians that are designed with one purpose. "CLAIM DENIED". Years ago your average American Hospital crossed over to where more than 50% of staff is NOT employed in the actual "delivery" of actual health care. Guess what theyre doing?
The small print isnt an accident, same thing goes for the Credit card vampires, you shouldnt have to be an MBA Forensic Accountant with a Law degree in order to not get skinned alive by the Hyenas.

How can they speak plain English? A good percentage of their customers don't speak English

The Reading score of U.S. is about 14th percentile of 30 nations.

High school graduate have problem to fill out job application form.

Insurance company needs to use simple English, short sentence, short words, big prints, perhaps, at least font size 12...