High deductible health insurance, more commonly known as high deductible health plans (HDHPs) are medical health insurance plans which requires a high yearly deductible but carry a low monthly premium. Health insurance companies like Aetna and Healthnet believe that if people had to pay a larger portion of their medical bills they would not choose to have unnecessary medical procedures and would be more prudent in their healthcare spending, thus lowering the cost of health care.
These health plans have been the subject of several studies. Both found that those families earning lower incomes are more likely to postpone or do without medical care than pay high deductibles as opposed to higher income families.
In one study, around 50 % of all the families, earning a wide range of incomes and enrolled in a HDHP, disclosed that they passed on a recommended medical procedure due to the cost. The annual high deductibles for a typical high deductible health plan can be at least $1000 per person or $2000 per family. A pretty high price to pay before any medical expenses are covered. But because the monthly costs are low some lower income families are signing up for these health plans and denying themselves medical care as a way to have health coverage in these difficult economic times. It is a strategy to cover catastrophic health costs but not necessarily to prevent them. In some instances people have denied themselves necessary care because of the cost.
Patients with a high deductible reported doing one or more of the following due to cost, not visiting a doctor when having a medical problem, not having a prescription filled, not pursuing recommended specialist care, not having a recommended test or follow-up. It was also found that those families with high deductible health insurance were less likely to immunize their children and adults were reluctant to get cancer screenings.
It seems that high deductible health plans are not helping lower health care costs but merely changing consumer spending habits from health care to insurance premiums. The irony is that some of these health coverage plans include exemptions for preventive care (making the procedures almost free) which are not taken advantage of simply because the high deductibles encourage insurers to avoid visiting their physicians all together. Yet medical professionals are more informed about how best to care for their patient within the patient’s means. Surveys from lower income families indicated the trend towards consulting with their doctors for alternative treatments that might carry a lower cost. While we are a long way from affordable health insurance, for a low-income family, a high deductible health plan is not affordable on too many levels.