Health News
- Study Finds People With High Deductibles Skimp On Doctor Visits
In theory, higher deductibles on health-insurance plans should force down health-care costs because patients will become smarter shoppers, but a study has found that patients shifted to a higher-deductible plan did not shop for a better deal, but simply...
- 15 To 25% Of Uninsured Kentuckians May Be Eligible For Free, Non-medicaid Coverage, But Watch Those Out-of-pocket Costs
Millions of Americans who don't quite qualify for Medicaid could still get free health insurance through federal subsidies, but this free coverage hasn't gotten much attention, since most of the zero premium plans come with some trade-offs. An...
- Beshear Announces Rates In Health-insurance Exchange, Says Kentuckians Will Like Them, Especially The Federal 'discounts'
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News Tossing out the first examples of what Kentuckians will pay for required health coverage through the state health insurance exchange that opens Oct. 1, Gov. Steve Beshear predicted yesterday, "The vast majority of people...
- Don't Chip Away Chip
Leaders, from Illinois and across the country, are calling on Congress to continue funding the Children?s Health Insurance Program by highlighting its success in reducing the number of uninsured children and warning that these children may lose coverage...
- Clearing Up Confusion About Health Reform?s Out-of-pocket Protections
Recent media coverage may have sown confusion about health reform?s requirement that health insurance plans cap how much consumers can pay out-of-pocket each year for medical care. The bottom line: for many plans, the protections will take effect as scheduled...
Health News
Families with high-deductible health insurance plans are more likely to put off care, study finds
Families who have health plans with high deductibles and who have members with chronic health conditions are far more likely to put off or forgo care entirely due to cost, a study has found. The odds of those families delaying or forgoing care were three to four times more likely than families with traditional plans.
Those were the key findings of a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Using a mail and phone survey, researchers talked to families with employer-sponsored insurance in Massachusetts between April and December 2008. Respondents included 208 families with high-deductible plans and 370 families with traditional plans.
For adults with high-deductible plans and with incomes less than four times the federal poverty level, the probability they would delay or forgo care was 40 percent. For adults in the same income bracket with traditional plans that probability was only 15.1 percent. (Read more)
- Study Finds People With High Deductibles Skimp On Doctor Visits
In theory, higher deductibles on health-insurance plans should force down health-care costs because patients will become smarter shoppers, but a study has found that patients shifted to a higher-deductible plan did not shop for a better deal, but simply...
- 15 To 25% Of Uninsured Kentuckians May Be Eligible For Free, Non-medicaid Coverage, But Watch Those Out-of-pocket Costs
Millions of Americans who don't quite qualify for Medicaid could still get free health insurance through federal subsidies, but this free coverage hasn't gotten much attention, since most of the zero premium plans come with some trade-offs. An...
- Beshear Announces Rates In Health-insurance Exchange, Says Kentuckians Will Like Them, Especially The Federal 'discounts'
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News Tossing out the first examples of what Kentuckians will pay for required health coverage through the state health insurance exchange that opens Oct. 1, Gov. Steve Beshear predicted yesterday, "The vast majority of people...
- Don't Chip Away Chip
Leaders, from Illinois and across the country, are calling on Congress to continue funding the Children?s Health Insurance Program by highlighting its success in reducing the number of uninsured children and warning that these children may lose coverage...
- Clearing Up Confusion About Health Reform?s Out-of-pocket Protections
Recent media coverage may have sown confusion about health reform?s requirement that health insurance plans cap how much consumers can pay out-of-pocket each year for medical care. The bottom line: for many plans, the protections will take effect as scheduled...