Establishing deductibles for consumer-driven plans
October 16, 2009 by Christian SchappelPosted in: Health care, In this week's e-newsletter - benefits, Latest News & Views, Pay and benefits
More and more companies are turning to consumer-driven health plans to try and contain relentless increases to the cost of health care. But the hardest part is trying to determine how high deductibles should be.
These new benchmarks from the Employer Health Benefits 2009 Annual Survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust can give you an idea where to start:
- The average annual deductible for single coverage in health savings account-qualified high-deductible health plans is $1,922.
- 27% of workers enrolled in these plans for single coverage have a deductible between $1,150 (the minimum for an individual) and $1,499.
- 10% have a deductible of $3,000 or more.
- 90% of workers enrolled in these plans do not have to meet the annual deductible before preventative care is covered.
Tags: consumer-driven health plans, Employer Health Benefits, Heatl Research and Educational Trust, Kaiser Family Foundation
October 20th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
I have worked for many years on health plan development and benefit management. I have a near violent cringe everytime I see or hear the term “consumer driven” used relative to health care. Until the insurance companies stop paying $75 for an Advil and the unrealistic charges that can add up to a major claim, how are consumers able to drive anything. Let’s get honest…. the system is NOT broken on the consumer side. The health plans, providers, and insurance companies are driving this system. (By the way, when I contacted my health insurer to point out the $75 fee for the Advil, I was told not to worry……. that was a prearranged discount amount – so I “saved money with my insurance”. ooooooooh goodie!
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:11 pm
I agree, it is not the consumer who is driving health care, nor should it be that the consumer need to choose between a retirement account and a health care. I think these HDHP’s are going to be hurting our population if not very soon, in the near future. Those who’s HSA’s are not funded don’t have the money to see a doctor, those who have some money in the HSA want to save it for thier retirement. The cronic conditions either go undiagnosed or untreeted therefore leaving a sicker population than was present before the HDHP was initiated – and thereby increases costs, either by an increased premium, or an increased social cost.
Wake up America – Health is a right, not a privilage – you must WORK at being healthly and taking responsibilty for your lifestyle, but we also need to have responsible people manning the health care support system.
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Agree, they should be called “catastrophic or hurricane plans” rather than consumer driven. I don’t know anyone that works for employer with over 300 employees with their employee only annual premiums even exceeding those deductibles. I think these type of plans are good for a small business that just wants to offer something, but for large companies to dump their employees into one of these, it favors the highly compensated employees!!! The low income families get public insurance and once again the middle class who is already $10,000 in credit card debt because they are the ones being taxed to death, can add the $6,000 out of pocket expenses (and lets not forget the RX cost as well) to their annual debt.
October 22nd, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Consumer-driven just means the consumer pays more for less coverage. If someone could come up with a “Common Sense Health Plan”, one that really did incorporate common-sense ideas, then there might be a reason to celebrate.
October 26th, 2009 at 9:37 am
We have had a CDHP for 3 years now. The deductible is outrageous ($5,000/$10,000) before it covers anything at all, including preventative care, and prescriptions are not even covered. The company has made funds available to the employees so they can at least seek some health care and get needed prescriptions (employees pay a small fee on top of the premium to help cover this cost), before they have met the deductibles. However, this year, they decided to add a “spend down” that each employee has to meet BEFORE those $ are available. Needless to say, I haven’t even begun to meet either requirements so that I can even use those available $. All of my elected FSA had to go to meet my husband’s deductible, (he was on COBRA due to losing his job over a year ago) as he has major heart issues and 2 recent surgeries. Our doctor is keeping me supplied with samples, as I cannot afford my meds. If it was not for his (the doctor’s) compassion, neither of us would be able to afford to see him as needed, either. How can anyone question the fact that our system needs a major health care overhaul?? Granted, everyone needs to be aware of the costs incurred and do what they can to keep costs down, but don’t take away to opportunity for preventative care and make it so unaffordable and useless for most people that it does then no good to have it. By the time I met my deductible, and then the co-insurance (another $5k/$10k), I would be bankrupt anyway.