Drew Altman writes on increasing deductible costs, “which are transforming the nature of health insurance from more comprehensive coverage to skimpier insurance with higher out-of-pocket costs.”
Read the full original article from The Wall Street Journal.
Altman notes that this change has come on gradually and not as a result of the Affordable Care Act or any policy shifts, as it started before the ACA was passed. The lack of association with the controversial healthcare bill has left rising deductibles essentially out of the debate around current healthcare. He calls it “the most important development in the U.S. health system the public is not debating.”
Those who opt for healthcare plans with lower deductibles are seeing increases in premiums instead - even those who receive healthcare benefits from their employers are now having to pay out-of-pocket for those benefits. One solution to this problem is partial self-insurance. Employers can save a baseline of 12.5% on healthcare spend while eliminating those rising out-of-pocket costs for employees. Download the Nonstop Quick Guide to Partial Self-Insurance to learn more:
