High deductible health plans: does cost sharing stimulate increased consumer sophistication?

Early Experience With High-Deductible and Consumer-Driven Health Plans

This report presents findings from the EBRI/Commonwealth Fund Consumerism in Health Care Survey, 2006, the second annual version of this survey. The online survey of 3,158 privately insured adults ages 21– 64 was conducted to provide nationally representative data regarding the growth of consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs) and high-deductible health plans (HDHPs), and their impact on the beh...

Health Savings Accounts and High-Deductible Health Insurance Plans

A small percentage of the population accounts for a • large share of total health care spending, so significantly decreasing health care spending will require substantially lowering the spending associated with high users of medical services. However, the high–deductible/HSA plan approach is not well designed for lowering the spending of the high-cost population in a manner that does not negati...

Healthcare spending and preventive care in high-deductible and consumer-directed health plans.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) and consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs) on healthcare spending and on the use of recommended preventive care. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective study. METHODS We analyzed claims and enrollment data for 808,707 households from 53 large US employers, 28 of which offered HDHPs or CDHPs. We estimated the effects of HDHP or...

High-deductible health plans: litigation hazards for health insurers.

High-deductible plans: What if you can't afford your share?: Comment on "Health care use and decision-making among lower-income families in high-deductible health plans".

BACKGROUND Lower-income families may face unique challenges in high-deductible health plans (HDHPs). METHODS We administered a cross-sectional survey to a stratified random sample of families in a New England health plan's HDHP with at least $500 in annualized out-of-pocket expenditures. Lower-income families were defined as having incomes that were less than 300% of the federal poverty level...