Friday, January 16, 2015

High Deductible Healthcare

Background on high-deductible plans or otherwise known as “consumer-driven healthcare.”
According to the Leapfrog Group, 1 in 5 are now utilizing plans that are high-deductible or consumer-driven healthcare plans. One of the characteristics of these types of plans are that the patient is responsible for the first $1,000 or more. As stated on HealthCare.gov, the annual out-of-pocket maximum/limit can go up to 6,600 for an individual or $13,200 for a family. The benefit for a higher out-of-pocket is a lower monthly premium, but even with the best planning, one cannot truly prepare for the costs associated with an unexpected illness that may require a hospitalization or outpatient services.
What is this doing to the healthcare consumer? How do they pay for services that fall into this valley of co-pays and deductibles? Well, there are an increasing amount of finance options to help out. For example, there is one called Healthcare Finance Solutions that can offer short term loans for as little as 0% for the consumer and the provider can be paid within 48 hours. In addition, they offer infrastructure that will support the registration clerks and admissions staff as they are meeting with a patient or their family that will enable them to access the system and process their application in no time at all. Everything is integrated into the EMR or as a stand-alone that has easy access for the registration clerk or admissions staff. Now, the facility can collect upfront these large deductible plans, give the patient peace of mind that their financial responsibility is taken care of, and their focus can now be centered on getting better. More importantly, this can take the question of should I get this procedure done to when do I want to get this procedure done.
Most people, if not all, sign up for the high-deductible plans base on the monthly premium. I hope that over the next year a more robust education process is afforded to the purchaser of healthcare so as to avoid, this seemingly, one dimensional decision process.

HealthCare.gov. 2014a. Out-of-pocket maximum/limit. Retrieved from https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/out-of-pocket-maximum-limit/
Leapfroggroup.org. 2013. High Deductible Health Plans & The New Era of Consumerism in Healthcare. Retrieved from http://www.leapfroggroup.org/media/file/AnnualMeeting2013Program.pdf  


by Kevin (Michael) Harrington