Search Tools Wanting on Many Exchanges

Fabrizio Costantini for The New York Times

Kenny Wheeler, a self-employed salesman with a neuromuscular disorder, said he found a less expensive insurance plan on Kentucky's online exchange, but it took some legwork.

SHELBYVILLE, Ky. — As he was trying to sign up for health insurance through Kentucky's new online exchange this month, Kenny Wheeler hit a wall.

Mr. Wheeler, an independent sales representative with a neuromuscular disorder, had succeeded where many in other states had failed, getting through a thicket of log-in pages. But when he tried to find out whether two health plans he liked would pay for his medications or let him keep his current doctors, he could not.

He called one doctor on the spot, but the receptionist could not tell him whether the practice was in the new plan networks. Nor could Mr. Wheeler, 61, get quick answers from the insurers themselves. Exasperated, he put off completing his application.

Since the new health insurance exchanges opened for business on Oct. 1, millions of people who have visited the online sites have been unable to enroll because of technical problems and software glitches. But many people who are getting through the log-in process are encountering a different set of problems when they try to determine whether policies sold through the exchanges will provide the doctors, hospitals or drugs they need.

Most of the 15 exchanges run by states and the District of Columbia do not have provider directories or search tools on their Web sites — at least not yet — so customers cannot easily check which doctors and hospitals are included in a particular plan's network. Most allow customers to search for providers by linking to the insurers' Web sites, but the information is not always accurate or easy to navigate, health care experts say.

At this stage, even many doctors are uncertain about whether they are contracted with exchange plans from state to state because the plans — and even some of the insurers — are so new.

"I've had to do all this legwork on my own," Mr. Wheeler said.

Ellen Boyd, 62, of Torrington, Conn., said she had tried to check whether her doctors were in a plan offered on her state's exchange by clicking a link that took her to the insurer's Web site. But it appeared that she had to go ahead and buy a plan before being able to check which providers were in its network, she said.

"I thought I would be able to go to the Web site and pop in a name and get a yes or no answer," said Ms. Boyd, who has osteoporosis and ulcerative colitis and wants to stick with her current doctors. "It makes your hair hurt, I'll tell you."

Exchange officials say they plan to make it easier for customers to see which providers and drugs are covered as they continue to refine the new Web sites. But for now, a lack of quick and easy search tools is adding another layer of frustration in the opening weeks of a program that has been plagued by technological problems and political attacks.

Problems finding providers or drug coverage are occurring mainly on state exchanges paradoxically because those Web sites are working better than the federal insurance exchange used by 36 states. The federal exchange has been so crippled by technical problems that most consumers have been unable to advance far enough to compare plans, search for providers or review drug coverage.

A survey of state exchanges gives a sense of some of the challenges consumers face in searching for information about plans. Only exchanges in Colorado, Kentucky, Nevada and Washington State currently have search tools on their Web sites that allow users to type in a provider's name and quickly see which plans includes that provider in their network.

California had to take its search function offline last week after it was found to include inaccurate information and to freeze up when people tried using it. California says it hopes to have its search tool back up and running as soon as this week.

Several states, including Maryland, Oregon and Rhode Island, are moving to incorporate search tools on their Web sites. But for now, people in those states must link to other sites or comb through long lists of providers manually.

In the states with no search tools, including Connecticut, Hawaii, Minnesota, New York and Vermont, the exchanges just link to insurer Web sites that health care experts say can be difficult to use. The federal insurance exchange also links to the provider directories of insurance companies that are offering plans on it.

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