In this qualitative descriptive study, we examine health insurance literacy among a group of international college students. They were recruited from a public, co-educational Southeastern university in the United States during the fall semester of 2016 to participate in semistructured interviews. Data were gathered through a demographic questionnaire, two focus group discussions, and individual interviews. Interview sessions were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. Three themes emerged, including knowledge of health insurance options and benefits information, affordability, and unmet expectations. These findings show the need for higher education institutions to develop a plan to integrate international students into U.S. health care. International students are a vulnerable population; therefore, increasing health insurance literacy is vital to making an optimal health insurance choice, improving access to health care, and using health care efficiently. Future research should tailor educational interventions to mitigate poor health insurance literacy among international college students.

中文翻译：

---

国际大学生健康保险素养

在这项定性描述性研究中，我们调查了一组国际大学生的健康保险素养。他们于 2016 年秋季学期从美国一所公立男女同校东南大学招募，参加半结构化面试。数据是通过人口调查问卷、两次焦点小组讨论和个人访谈收集的。访谈会话被录音、转录，并使用主题分析方法进行分析。出现了三个主题，包括健康保险选择和福利信息的知识、可负担性和未满足的期望。这些调查结果表明，高等教育机构需要制定一项计划，将国际学生融入美国的医疗保健。国际学生是弱势群体；所以，提高健康保险知识对于做出最佳健康保险选择、改善获得医疗保健的机会以及有效利用医疗保健至关重要。未来的研究应该调整教育干预措施，以减轻国际大学生健康保险素养不佳的问题。