Health insurers don't need to look any further than the industry of their healthcare provider colleagues to see that consumers are increasingly turning to search engines and the web for healthcare information.from the NY Times:

At least three-quarters of all Internet users look for health information online, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project; of those with a high-speed connection, 1 in 9 do health research on a typical day. And 75 percent of online patients with a chronic problem told the researchers that "their last health search affected a decision about how to treat an illness or condition," according to a Pew Report released last month, "The Engaged E-Patient Population."

Reliance on the Internet is so prevalent, said the report's author, Susannah Fox, the associate director at Pew, that "Google is the de facto second opinion" for patients seeking further information after a diagnosis.

As carriers themselves begin entering this fray -- developing online initiatives around educating consumers on the basics of health insurance -- it will be interesting to see if any specific approaches work better than others.

As Peggy Bresnick Kendler reported last week, CIGNA recently launched a public-facing e-learning program that aims to educate consumers on the basics of health care and health insurance. Developed by CIGNA University, the carrier's educational unit, the program revolves around three online learning modules that incorporate various technologies such as streaming video.

If CIGNA's program proves to be successful, I wouldn't be surprised if other health insurers follow the Philadelphia-based carrier's lead. In particular, I expect that CIGNA's decision to make its e-learning modules carrier agnostic (the modules do not specifically market CIGNA-branded products or services).

In another way though, I wonder if an insurer that takes a less regimented approach to its education initiative might also position itself for success. The CIGNA modules are built almost like guided tours. It's an effective way to provide information, but the information within the modules is self-contained. It'd be difficult for a user using Google or another search engine, to find an answer to a very specific health insurance query. In other words, it doesn't lend itself to the very specific ways people are likely to seek out health insurance information.

Look at the aforementioned healthcare industry. Sites like WebMD allow visitors to drill down to specific diseases and ailments. In the same way that people don't go to Google and search for "healthcare information," they don't go to Google and search for "health insurance information". Instead they use search terms like "pneumonia symptoms" and "HSA details."

CIGNA's site is an important step in the right direction as insurers learn the value of establishing themselves as a source for good information. It's only a first step though. If CIGNA can build upon this program with a more search engine friendly repository of health insurance information -- perhaps with a glossary of industry terms, user forums around specific topics or a wiki -- it could turn itself into a trusted source for consumers who, in increasing numbers, are going online to educate themselves on the basics of health insurance before enrolling in a specific plan from a specific carrier.