Archive for the ‘co-payments’ Category

Greatest Irony: Health Plan Workers Consider Strike Over *Their* Health Insurance

Monday, January 28th, 2008

As unbelievable as it sounds, some HealthPartners employees are talking about striking over *their* health insurance benefits, as I found at the Minneapolis Saint Paul Business Journal and Pioneer Press. At issue is the need for employees to pay a portion of their medical premium, and a change in the way prescriptions are paid.

Obvious to management is that the costs associated with the group have gone up due to the utilization of medicine, but apparently that same point of view is not shared by the workers. What can management do? They can cave in to the demands of the workers, and find another way to pay the difference: by increasing costs, and premiums to create a larger margin in operations to cover the costs.

But, you may ask, what about corporate profits, and those blood-suckers who run the insurance side of HealthPartners? HealthPartners is the largest consumer-governed, nonprofit health care organization in the nation.

Jonathan Pletzke is a consumer expert on health insurance and author of the health insurance book Get a Good Deal on Your Health Insurance Without Getting Ripped-Off, available online and at bookstores nationally. Additional details can be found at the consumers health insurance book and resources website www.BestHealthInsuranceBook.com. Copyright 2007-2008 Aji Publishing.

Posted in Consumer Health Insurance, Health Insurance, In the News, co-payments, strike, twin cities | No Comments »

Health Insurance Co-Payments Studied

Monday, January 28th, 2008

I just came across a report on the UPI Newswire where information about a study titled “Co-payments as low as $12 deter women from getting mammograms” by Dr. Amal Trivedi. According to this article, the study found that 8% less women were having their annual mammogram when the copayment was $12 versus when there was no copayment at all. I’d need to look at the study further to know whether the populations of women were socio-economically, geographically, and industry neutral, because I can see a lot of differences in attitude based on these factors.

What I think the important message is from the study, regardless of any population related skewing, is that people will skip having preventative medical screenings if there is a cost. This confirms what other studies have said about people without health insurance postponing care until disease has progressed very far, and therefore having a lower chance of a successful recovery.

What does this say for HSA’s? Do people with High Deductible Health Plans (HDHP) that don’t offer covered wellness features have a lower chance of beating serious disease? Is the problem with delivery of health services for what appears to be a very low price? Perhaps we should focus on other reasons that people would avoid an uncomfortable health screening besides cost. What about not having evening and weekend hours? Or a clinic nearby? I bet that we’d find noticeable percentages in these factors, too. Maybe the provider offerings available in different plans would also make a difference in the rate at which people went. Choosing between an unpleasant clinic and a nice one might also make a difference.

I welcome more studies along these lines. We can have the greatest health care available, but if people don’t take advantage of it, for even $12, we have a problem.

Jonathan Pletzke is a consumer expert on health insurance and author of the health insurance book Get a Good Deal on Your Health Insurance Without Getting Ripped-Off, available online and at bookstores nationally. Additional details can be found at the consumers health insurance book and resources website www.BestHealthInsuranceBook.com. Copyright 2007-2008 Aji Publishing.

Posted in Consumer Health Insurance, HDHP, HSA, Health Insurance, co-payments, mammograms | No Comments »