What Extension Professionals Say About Teaching Health Insurance: Results From a Nationwide Survey

• Published in: Journal of family and consumer sciences Vol. 109; no. 3; pp. 37 - 44
• Main Authors: Brown, Virginia, Koonce, Joan C., Martin, Ken, Kiss, Elizabeth, Katras, Mary Jo, Wise, Dena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Alexandria American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences 01.08.2017; American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences
• Subjects: Bankruptcy; College Programs; Consumers; Data Analysis; Data collection; Education; Educational leadership; Educational Practices; Educational Strategies; Extension Agents; Health care access; Health care policy; Health Insurance; Home economics education; Instructional Materials; Knowledge; Land Grant Universities; Land-grant colleges; Literacy; Medical research; National Surveys; Needs Assessment; Personal health; Professional development; Professionals; Research Committees; Task forces; Teachers; Teaching; Teaching Methods; Uninsured people
• ISSN: 1082-1651; 2331-5369
• DOI: 10.14307/JFCS109.3.37

The Extension Committees on Organization and Policy adopted a new Health and Wellness Framework with six priority areas. A health insurance literacy team was appointed to assess current system efforts and develop research, programs, and professional development opportunities. Survey results show that finance educators were the most likely educators to be teaching health insurance topics and the majority were using materials developed by Extension. However, Extension educators as a whole were not comfortable teaching health insurance topics and wanted more professional development around the topic. Based on these findings, the team has begun providing professional development trainings and common resources for system-wide use.