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Health insurance is a confusing topic for many people. With Obamacare, all Americans should ideally be insured. Despite getting more people insured, a recent study found that new Medicaid patients might need to be trained in using health insurance. The researchers reported that patients in Oregon missed out on the benefits of their insurance or health care because they did not know how to use it.

"There's this idea that health insurance is like car insurance: You use it when something really bad happens," said lead author Heidi Allen, a research scientist at the Center for Outcomes Research and Education, Providence Health System, in Portland, Ore. "So yearly exams and getting preventive screenings just didn't cross their minds."

For this study, Allen reviewed paper surveys from 120 new Medicaid enrollees. Allen stated that around 40 percent of new Medicaid enrollees do not get care because they do not know how the system works. The remaining 60 percent did use their insurance more often but not to the fullest. Roughly only 10 percent of the people used preventive care. The small group of people who knew how to use their insurance reported higher satisfaction levels.

For the people who did not use their insurance, Allen discovered that people believed that if they used their insurance for a small incident, someone else who might need medical care would not have a turn. People also believed that their medical care was at the cost of taxpayers and therefore, they did not want to waste money. Furthermore, Medicaid patients with emergency dental insurance assumed that they had to go to the emergency room for other health conditions as well, when in fact, they could visit a doctor's office.

Allen also reported that people did not realize that their insurance covers an annual exam. Medicaid patients did not know that preventive screenings could save the healthcare system more money in the long run. People were also afraid that they would be asked for money after a doctor's appointment.

"This is a good opportunity to socialize people who may not have had health care for a really long time about how we want them to use health care," Allen said according to USA Today. "I see an opportunity for us to help patients understand, 'When this happens, this is where we want you to go.'"

The study was published in the journal, Health Affairs.