Healthcare Consumerism And Its Importance For Individuals, Organizations, And The Healthcare Industry

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’s next? Some experts say that if the consumer-directed approach doesn’t succeed, em wash their hands of health care altogether. A recent study by the Employee Benefit Researc showed that the proportion of U.S. residents covered by employment-based health benefits d percent in 2000 to 60 percent in 2004. Decades from now, observers may conclude that a counter- revolution in employer coverage began in these early years of the 21st century. —Terence F. Shea

In 1954, Congress passed legislation allowing employers to provide health insurance benefits to employees on a tax-free basis (Sih and Singh 99). This legal provision marked the beginning of the rapidly expanding health care costs still apparent today due to the major incentives provided by the government to obtain employer-based health coverage. The overwhelming popularity of employer-based health insurance has led to a serious market inefficiency resulting from the system of third-party payment. As individuals rely on their insurance companies to pay for their medical expenses, this provides

Societal beliefs and values influence the Affordable Care act. The health care budget is under constraint, how to provide the most recent and enhanced health care while saving money has become a major issue. With this new health reform, millions of Americans who could not afford insurance with their employers or are uninsured due to lack of employment have the opportunity to become insured. The major economic change in this society has created enormous challenges for workers, families, as well as employers. The implementation of this act reduced this plague in the health delivery system.

A major contributor to the rise of healthcare cost is that heath spending for individuals is primarily funded by third-parties. Because consumers of healthcare share little of the financial burden of the cost of the care they receive, patients and physicians are incentivized to utilize healthcare at a higher rate than they would if cost was a larger factor. The United States healthcare systems is based on a capitalist system but it operates in an imperfect marketplace that is no competitive. The current marketplace is not highly regulated as there is not a national health care program for all Americans which allow prices to be regulated and controlled effectively by a single regulating body. In this imperfect

The thought process behind consumer-driven health plans is that consumer activities can be improved in ways that will lessen the cost and

The definition of consumerism is the promotion of the consumer’s interest (Merriam-Webster, 2016) . With the adoption of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Consumerism has started to enter a whole new realm. When talking about consumerism, most individuals will bring forth the thought of buying materialistic items. Cars, Shoes, and clothing are all examples that most think of when they hear the word consumerism. The ACA has brought forth a new insight into the meaning of consumerism. The shopping of and for insurance as well as bargain hunting for health care providers. This does not mean that there are flyers arriving in the mail to pick a particular provider. However, that is an option that some could see in the future.

For our fourth Case Assignment, we are to suppose that we are a health care provider and that over a lengthy dinner conversation, a person across the table argues that patients do not receive good medical care if they don't have much money. We are to do the following during this dinner conversation A) First explain the basic intent of Consumer Driven Healthcare Plan to that person in our own words, B) Identify at least one argument against Consumer Driven Healthcare Plan, and lastly C) Based on our own research, summarize how the National Health Care plan recently adopted by Congress will impact Consumer Driven Healthcare Plan.

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

The Healthcare System is a combination of politics, health care practices, finances and socioeconomic representatives of the United States of America. There are many aspects of healthcare, such as health plans, that is not fully acknowledged by the American consumers. Current studies have also suggested that consumers have a lack of understanding when it comes to healthcare which can lead to a lack of care (Islam, 2015). Private (i.e. BlueCross) and public health (Medicare and/or Medicaid) insurance operatives have similar and different methods in which they are financing medical services to the public. This research paper will discuss many aspects of a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP). First, what a HDHP is and its prevalence will be discussed. Second, a deliberation about why and how they are so popular will be addressed. Lastly, the pros and contra will be considered and how they can affect your overall health and quality of life.

For people that obtain insurance through their employers, there has been a trend of workers enrolling in high-deductible plans because they are compatible with Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and/or Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2016). While these plans typically have premiums that are lower than other plans, workers do not technically save money with this option since deductible prices are higher. Additionally, some employers only offer health plans with higher deductibles with the intention of shifting the cost of health care to their workers and avoid spending more themselves (Tracer, 2015). These employers believe that when workers have to pay more they will tend to use less, and in theory, overall health spending should decrease (Tracer, 2015). Another shift in cost has to do with the Affordable Care Act and its “Cadillac Tax”, which penalizes high-cost health plans and those with higher premiums (Tracer, 2015). Although this Cadillac Tax is planned to be imposed in 2018, the effects of it are still shown in cost trends

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

The cost of healthcare is on the rise and no end to this crisis is in sight. Most people believe all employers should offer health insurance to its employees; however, with the cost of healthcare so high companies who offer these benefits are trying to find ways to offset costs. If all employers did offer health, dental, and life insurance, who would cover the cost? A survey administered by the Commonwealth Fund titled The Public’s Views on Healthcare Reform in the 2008 Presidential Election asked that question to 3,500 randomly selected adults. 70% of people surveyed thought the cost should be shared equally between the employer, employees, and the government. 80% of the people surveyed also thought that if an employer did not offer health insurance they should contribute to the cost of coverage (Lubell, 2008).

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

Based on the above, consumer sovereignty in healthcare would imply that society benefits at large when healthcare providers and organizations compete to develop high quality products and