The Role of Government in the U.S. Health Care System

When Americans enroll in health insurance they opt for cheaper premiums, rather than premiums that would be suitable for them. The issue with enrollees choosing cheaper premium leads to higher deductibles. According to the Centers for Medicine and Medicaid Services, 68 percent of marketplace enrollees have chosen silver plans and 21 percent bronze plans. Enrollees who have silver plans could potentially see relatively small deductibles, but bronze enrollees may be subjected to higher deductibles that are too expensive to afford. Janet Varion, an

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.

Hass, S. A. (2011). Health Reform Act: New Models of Care and Delivery Systems. AAACN Viewpoint, 11(1), 11-13. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=36b57aac-9d18-45a3-a5e6-570d1f9375a7%40sessionmgr4010&vid=1&hid=4111.

This research paper is talking about the high deductible plans in the U.S and why it is growing in popularity. The trend of the HDHP began before the passing of the Affordable Care Plan. One of the reasons for this increase was believed to be the saving options that the HDHP offers to drive more consumers. The number of employers that offered the HDHP went up very fast. Some researchers say that the HDHP saves enrollees money, but it reduces preventative care. Other studies showed that when individuals shifted from the low deductible health plan toward HDHP, the health care spending dropped. The HDHP has more benefits to the young, healthy individuals than to the elderly sick individuals. The question is why the HDHP is growing in

You have made a lot of good points about the impact of deductible and co-payment on patients seeking health care. Did you know that 51.1% of low-income families reported have to delay or forgo treatment due to cost of care compared to 34.8% of higher income families? Based on this finding it was suggested to policymakers that deductibles be set based on income and family size. (Anonymous, 2010)

A High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) is a health care plan in which they monthly premium (amount that is paid by the consumer monthly or annually) is lower, but the insured has higher out-of-pocket expenses. Out-of-pocket expenses or deductibles are the financial cost that the individual pays on their own before their insurance pays its share ("High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) - HealthCare.gov Glossary | HealthCare.gov," n.d.). With the help of these HDHP, individuals also combine a Health Saving

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

There are many ways to look at the impact of deductibles and co-payments on how patients seek care. First if the cost of going to the provider is free or low then more people will seek appointments and if it is too expensive then only a few people would be able to afford seeking care. According to the article Shifting toward Defined Contributions-Predicting the Effects, employees wanted insurance plans that cost less and had higher deductibles with option of a health saving account, this saved them money up front and in total if they did not need healthcare. Overall I think it is up to the population being served in the area and the type of plan that is best for them. It seems to me that in high premiums low deductible setting, more seeking

Choosing a diminishing deductible may be the most affordable health insurance plan for you to buy.

This New York Time's article opens the discussion about the dislike of deductibles that is present in America. It discusses the idea of high deductibles, why they currently exist and the negatives and positives of high deductible health care plans. I agree with the article that high health care deductibles can keep health insurance costs down by lowering the use of health care services, especially if it is unnecessary. One research study from the 1970s was referenced in article showed that people used less health care when they had to pay more, but this did not result in those individuals being less healthy. Although I agree with this idea on the overall economic sense, I disagree with this idea because this seems to imply that everyone

High-deductible health plans (HDHPs), just like the name suggests, involves greater upfront payment by the insured before the insurance takes over the remainder health cost. These plans are nothing new but have increased in popularity in recent years. Growing number of U.S. companies and employers are offering HDHPs. A 2013 data showed 20% of small companies and 40% of large companies offer HDHPs as among the choices for a health plan, where as 20% companies offer HDHPs as the only choice of health coverage (Shenkin et al., 2014). The data also shows an increase of 4% from 2006 to 20% in 2013 of employees under the HDHP. The high health care cost puts an enormous amount of pressure on employers, as they're the majority

Healthcare is always presumed to be a complex subject that no one really wants to look into, the delivery system just seems to have too many intricate details. There are five specific factors with regards to the delivery of care: accessibility, affordability, availability, accommodation, and acceptability (Shi & Singh, 2015, p. 485). These dimensions of access determine how care is delivered and how effective this care is for every individual. America’s delivery of healthcare did not simply just appear with the Affordable Care Act but has undergone many changes since the early eighteen hundreds. There is a difference in how healthcare is financed, the many different components and health service professionals

There is a golden rule – keep in mind that, higher deductible means lower insurance premium.

Hospitals constantly “forget” to enter insurance information. I had a car accident in April, it literally took months for them to update their system with given information. What infuriate me, is the high cost for self-pay or high deductible patients. The insurance companies have a contracted amount with providers, they accept a set amount for services render. For example; Medicaid will pay $30 for an office visit, Medicare will pay $50, and BCBS will pay $75. However, a self-pay patient is required to pay $150 and high deductible is discounted 10%. My opinion, the insurance company, Big Pharma and expensive providers are in

This can give these individuals the ability to carefully plan out finances with a lower probability of being confronted with an unexpected high bill. The reason being is because deductibles have been on the rise since 2008. According to the International Revenue Service, a plan is considered to be a high deductible if it is $1,300 or greater for an individual and $2,600 or greater for a family. In a Transunion healthcare care survey, which was conducted in 2015, approximately 80 percent of respondents said that upfront costs of certain healthcare providers are factors on whether they choose a particular healthcare, 79% said that they were more likely to pay their bills if they receive a cost estimate before care is administered (site HPIO 2016). With the ability to see care quality and prices, it could incentivize individuals to receive care if needed, as one major barrier that could keep individuals from receiving care is the unknown detailed price.