Consumer Concerns About Health Care

More and more people with medical insurance are relying on the health care system as new technologies and treatments become available. This leads to a grater number of claims for payment by insurance companies, the costs of which are passed back to health care consumers. The baby-boom generation is entering its peak health-care using period. Over eighty million Americans will turn 50 in the next 10 years. The cost of providing heath care for these individuals will be staggering

Rising health insurance premiums have made healthcare unaffordable in the United States. Health insurance premiums in this country have undergone a steady rise over the past few years while incomes have remained the same. More than 50% of individuals with low incomes holding private insurance in the United States are unable to afford their healthcare costs (Collins, Gunja, Doty & Buetel, 2015). In addition, costs related to healthcare are equally unaffordable to 25% of working-age individuals who hold private health insurance policies (Collins et al., 2015). According to the Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research and Educational Trust (Kaiser/HRET) survey on employer health benefits, employer-sponsored health insurance plans have also had moderate rises in premiums in 2013 for both individuals and family coverage (Claxton et al., 2013). While

What do you think when you hear health care providers and the services they provide? The ACA has increased government interaction with the healthcare system by developing several of the government initiatives that focus on improving the ability of individuals to make informed decisions about their health care. In this paper, it will provide information about few providers and the services that they provide as well as the quality of attention.

The dissatisfaction with managed care for some consumers has resulted in the change of some insurance plans altogether. "Significant numbers of health plans have reduced their reliance on managed care tools at a time when health insurance premiums have returned to double digit rates of growth in many markets. Faced with fewer instruments for curbing utilization and constraining provider payments, health plans have attempted to mitigate premium growth by shifting costs to consumers. These developments promise to lighten the administrative and financial burdens that managed care has imposes on physicians and hospitals, while leading consumers to

The changing landscape of the current health care system in the United States has caused new methods of insurance to gain in popularity. The High-deductible health plan (HDHP) is increasingly favored by employers and offered on the exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) a HDHP is “a plan that features higher deductibles than traditional insurance plans. High deductible health plans (HDHPs) can be combined with a health savings account or a health reimbursement arrangement” (2015). In the HDHPs premiums are lower, offset by the higher deductible. The health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) the employer contributes to a fund for medical expenses while in the health savings account (HSA) which employees pay into but is not required of the employer (Shi & Singh, 2012, p. 208). The growing popularity of these plans is important as it will have effects on the healthcare costs as well as how consumers use healthcare.

Topic 1: Health care in America is a lingering topic that has been discussed throughout history. Even now, while Obamacare is in full effect, there are a variety of concerns surrounding the issue. While some people strongly believe healthcare should be more of a universal standard, where people should not be denied based on their income or lack of, others are in support of keeping a system where a person is solely responsible for their own health insurance. Such a system enables a person to have total control over their healthcare, where money has truly taken control over what quality of health insurance a person is entitled to. Overall the issue surrounding healthcare is important to both public policy advocates, as well as a business

One of the greatest changes in healthcare in the past ten years has been the rise of managed care, much to the displeasure of many patients and physicians alike. Managed care arose out of concern about spiraling healthcare costs and was designed to encourage physicians to give patients treatments that were cost-effective out of their own financial interests. "The consumer strategy was directed at imposing some barriers to use by levying various forms of co-insurance. The most common approaches used either deductibles (where the consumer paid the first portion of the bill a technique familiar in other types of insurance) or co-payments (where the consumer paid a portion of the bill and the insurance company the rest) or a combination of both' (Kane et al 1994). Managed care has given health insurance companies an increasingly significant voice in how treatment is administered and allocated. Managed care has proliferated in the past decade despite considerable criticism of the practice of 'nickel and diming' patients as well as the considerable bureaucratic red tape it is has generated. Also, research indicates that healthy, well-insured patients tend to over-consume care without meaningful co-pays but poorer, sicker patients can be deterred even by moderate co-payments and suffer negative health consequences (Kane et al 1994). However, managed care has not gone away and is a reality that all healthcare

In 2015, HDHP covered 24% of the workers in the employers that offer it, up from just 4% in 2006 (Kaiser/HRET, 2015). The increase in the number of the HDHP enrollees didn’t only occur in an employment-based market, but also in an individual-based market due to high deductibles. In fact, 90 percent of the individuals covered by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace pay higher deductible than the deductibles of the HDHP (Health Affairs, 2016). One of the reasons for this increase is the saving options that the HDHP offer to drive more consumers. The consumers will face high health care prices and this will make them think about whether deciding to look for care or not. As a result, this will reduce health care spending. A study showed that when individuals shifted from the low deductible health plan toward HDHP, their health spending dropped by 14% (RAND, 2011).

Out-of-pocket medical costs continue to cause debate in the U.S. Out-of-pocket costs consist of insurance premiums, co-payments, co-insurance, and unsubsidized care costs. Researchers suggest that out-of-pocket medical expenses have tripled for the average American family since 2001(Girod, 2016). Other studies indicate that the growth rate of these costs is double the annual income rate for U.S. individuals and families. Still, some argue that out-of-pocket medical costs are appropriate considering healthcare utilization (Cutler, 2004). This paper addresses the arguments supporting and refuting the stance that out-of-pocket medical expenses are too high.

In a health care system beset by inequality, excessive spending, and average outcomes, one segment of the population in particular presents a variety of problems and opportunities that need to be addressed: the elderly. Individuals over the age of sixty-five in the United States utilize a disproportionate share of medical services compared to the rest of the population, and the growth of this demographic means that any concerns associated with it will only continue to intensify. By studying the health care that is provided to the elderly, one not only gains insight into how this population segment could be better served, but also into how the delivery of health care for the entire population could be improved to ameliorate the problems associated with access, cost, and quality.

In our society, the increasing cost of goods and services as time passes by is not a surprise at all. What surprised me the most after reading about the health benefits of employees in the Kaiser Family Foundation 2013 is the very steep rise in the price of health insurance premiums and deductibles while having a decreased extent of coverage. In a matter of a decade, there was a 147% increase in worker contribution and 114% increase in premiums (Estes, Chapman, Dodd, Hollister, & Harrington, 2013). If this trend continues, there would be a greater health disparity and lesser accessibility to healthcare. This could result to the hesitancy to even see a primary care provider and even worse if there is a referral to a specialist, which in turn

Many employees must designate a health plan through their employer. These days, as HMOs (health maintenance organizations) and managed care plans continue to proliferate, that means a choice between bad and worse. As employees line up in the lunch-room for a process called open enrollment, they may be surprised to learn that managed care rates have gone up — again. The mirage that managed care is cheaper care is finally fading. And, for the first time in years, employees may also have the promise of free choice in medicine in the form of a new method of financing health care. Consumers are already aware of horror stories involving HMOs, but cheap rates persuaded many that managed care is less expensive. Recent

Healthcare Consumerism is a term used to describe a new movement in health care. A simple definition for the concept is, “a movement that advocates patients’ involvement in their own healthcare decisions. It is a movement from the ‘doctor says/patient does’ model to a ‘working partnership’ model” (Simbiso & Oti, 2016). Despite this straightforward definition, healthcare consumerism is multifaceted, complex, and the concept and our understanding of it is evolving in real-time. This brief examines two factors that have led to the rise of healthcare consumerism and their relevance to this growing trend. First, consumers, who are increasingly footing a larger portion of their healthcare costs in the form of higher premiums, copays, and deductibles

The most consistent and prominent concerns of consumer-driven health care plans amongst employees were that employees wish for healthcare services to be at an affordable price. The employees had issues with the high deductible plans and having enough money to cover any medical emergencies and expenses. Employees wanted to have the ability to choose their own healthcare provider and not get penalized for utilizing out-of-network providers. Both HealthPartners and Medica provided the options of no fees for selecting a out-of-network provider, however the employee was require to have higher monthly fees. See Exhibit 3 below: (Herzlinger, Hurwich, & Bokser, 2014, pg. 12). The employee had to choose between paying higher yearly deductibles and lower

According to the Institute of Health Consumerism (IHC), “Patients are increasingly taking an active role in their care experience and are evermore empowered to choose their own care alternatives. With the current state of the economy, the cost of care and, most importantly, the quality and ease of service are crucial factors in determining patient satisfaction. Implementing a consumer-driven health plan is the right first step but that alone in not sufficient to meet