2019 1 GENEVIEVE ELIZABETH O’CONNOR AND SERTANKABADAYI Examining Antecedents of Health Insurance Literacy: The Role of Locus of Control, Cognitive Style, and Financial Knowledge Today’s consumer is expected to make health-care decisions that have serious implications for their welfare. However, a major barrier to these decisions is a basic lack of understanding of health insurance. A critical frst step is to examine drivers of health insurance literacy and in turn offer interventions that can have a positive impact on consumer wel- fare. This article explores the relationship between relevant consumer psychographics, fnancial knowledge, and demographics with health insurance literacy. Results indicate that while demographics play a role, the degree to which consumers believe a situation or event is under their own control (i.e., locus of control), how they process information (i.e., cognitive style), and consumer’s fnancial confdence (i.e., subjec- tive knowledge) is a critical indicator of their health insurance literacy. Cluster analysis reveals three “faces” of health insurance literacy. Health insurance is one of the most complex, costly, confusing products consumers purchase (Paez and Mallery 2014). In the United States, con- sumers’ perplexity is driven by the product, which can be overwhelming when considering the number of plans to choose from that may differ on carrier brand names (e.g., Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, etc.), coverage level (e.g., HMO, PPO, etc.), and estimated cost (e.g., deductibles, copays, coinsurance), as well as consumers’ ability to effectively choose and use health insurance. The goal of this research is to focus on the latter; here we study consumers’ health insurance literacy (HIL). HIL is defned as “the degree to which individuals have the knowledge, ability, and confdence to fnd and evaluate information about health plans, select the best plan for their own (or their family’s) fnancial and health circumstances, and use the plan once enrolled” (Quincy 2012, 7). In the United States, the vast majority of Americans are required to have health insurance, or they are subjected to a penalty fee imposed by the US govern- ment. Regardless of where the insurance holder acquires insurance (e.g., Genevieve Elizabeth O’Connor (geoconnor@fordham.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing and Sertan Kabadayi (kabadayi@fordham.edu) is a professor of marketing both at Fordham University, Gabelli School of Business. The Journal of Consumer Affairs, 2019 DOI: 10.1111/joca.12266 Copyright 2019 by The American Council on Consumer Interests