EBRI Report of SurveyFindings

Employee Benefit Research Institute
December 2005
Early Experience With High-Deductible and Consumer-Driven Health Plans:
Findings From the EBRI/ Commonwealth Fund Consumerism in Health Care Survey
By Paul Fronstin, EBRI, and Sara R. Collins, The Commonwealth Fund ...

The sample was randomly drawn from Harris Poll Online...The final sample of adults participating in the survey is skewed toward higher-income, more highly educated individuals and also under represents minorities. Despite its limitations, this is the first national survey of individuals with high-deductible health plans who also have savings accounts (HSAs or HRAs), or so-called consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs), and people with high-deductible health plans who are eligible to contribute to a health savings account but who currently do not have an account (HDHP).

...When combined with premiums, outlays on health care as a share of income rose substantially among those with HDHPs and CDHPs, particularly among those with low incomes or health problems. More than two-fifths (42 percent) of people with HDHPs and 31 percent of those in CDHPs spent 5 percent or more of their income on out-of-pocket costs and premiums, compared with 12 percent of people in comprehensive plans. Nearly everyone (92 percent) with HDHPs with incomes under $50,000 spent 5 percent or more of their income on out-of-pocket costs and premiums, and one-third spent 10 percent or more. This compares with 34 percent of people in that income group in comprehensive plans...

While people reported using health services at similar rates across health plans, adults with CDHPs and HDHPs were significantly more likely to report that they had avoided, skipped, or delayed health care because of costs than were those with comprehensive insurance...

About one-third of people in CDHPs (35 percent) and HDHPs (31 percent) reported delaying or avoiding care, twice the rate of those in comprehensive health plans (17 percent)...

....the survey...demonstrates that cost-related reductions in demand are highest among individuals with the most to lose-those who are sick and those who have low incomes. To the extent that the health care cost problem is a problem owned by all of us, early evidence from the consumerism movement suggests that solving it through blunt, demand-side instruments like high deductibles gives disproportionate responsibility for the problem to the most vulnerable among us.
For the Full report @ http://www.ebri.org/pdf/briefspdf/EBRI_IB_12-2005.pdf
or click the Title of this post for the link.

Comment:
Although the negative impact of CDHPs and HDHPs were fully predicted and then confirmed by this survey, one finding is shocking in the intensity of the negative impact: "Nearly everyone (92 percent) with HDHPs with incomes under $50,000 spent 5 percent or more of their income on out-of-pocket costs and premiums, and one-third spent 10 percent or more." The introduction of financial disincentives to care resulted in widespread financial hardship. A fundamental principle of health care research is that when preliminary results demonstrate significant harm that cannot be offset by any potential benefit, it is an ethical imperative that the study be terminated immediately. The experiment with CDHP and HDHP has already crossed that threshold. Further experimentation can only define more precisely the enormity of financial hardships created. Health policy researchers have the same ethical obligation as biomedical researchers; they should call for an immediate end to this disastrous experiment. What feature of this model is causing the harm? The HSA plays an insignificant role in that it is merely a restricted savings account. The patient must still meet the out-of-pocket expenses whether they come from other income or savings or from this account distinguished primarily by an inequitable, regressive tax benefit. The real harm is caused by the high-deductible requirement of both the CDHPs and the HDHPs. Extensive data already exist that confirm the harm done by high deductibles in impairing access and health outcomes and in creating a financial burden for those in need. This study indicates that the financial hardship appears to be far more extensive than previously thought. What can we do? Existing HSAs can be converted into IRAs, and future HSAs should be prohibited as bad tax policy, bad pension policy and bad health policy. HDHPs should be prohibited. Financial hardship created by the need to access the health-care system can be eliminated by covering all beneficial services through a single risk pool. Since insurers will never attempt to corner the market on those who need care, this can be accomplished only by public policies requiring a universal pool. It's time for single payer.

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