Consumers are currently taking a much more active role in identifying and managing their health issuance needs. This is a trend that is bound to continue according to health insurance experts. Even the major health insurance companies are providing more health insurance products tailored to small businesses or the individual purchaser of private health insurance.

In this new age of health insurance consumerism, where then does one in the market for low cost medical insurance turn for good information? The Internet is a great place to start, and recently a new website was launched to be a central source of good information on all things health insurance for the consumer.

The site Health Plans Ratings Online as the name implies offers the consumer ratings on various health insurance plans, but it does more than that. The site is also a forum within which consumers themselves can voice feedback on experiences with their own health insurance plans. The site has also been designed to allow not only individuals seeking affordable health insurance, but also to help organizations and businesses find the right healthcare insurance plan to fit their needs and budget. The site has accumulated data from surveys taken nationwide of patients, doctors, and health insurance benefits advisors. The survey was designed to set criterions for customer satisfaction in terms of a healthcare plans rates, accessibly to care, and overall customer satisfaction.

The site was set up as a joint venture between Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., America’s a company that has been a recognized source for helping consumers find good healthcare practitioners, and bWell International, a company dedicated to cosigner education about healthcare. The CEO of bWell says it was a great match. Utilizing the resources of the two companies they were able to set up a single source where the health insurance consumer can come. Once there, they can evaluate their health insurance needs and the performance of their own health insurance plan if they have one, against all others in an open and objective forum. It gives the fledging health insurance consumer a sense of control they desperately need while navigating the new waters of consumer driven health insurance.

The CEO of Castle Connolly said the information provided is valid and objective because they designed their satisfaction survey around not just consumers who are members of a Health plan, but also questioned practitioners and administrators who deal directly with those healthcare insurance plans. By approaching the surveys from all three sides of the equation, you get data that is more than just opinion.