Dive Brief:
- According to a new Gallup poll, millions of Americans who have health insurance are forgoing care because they don't believe they can afford their out-of-pocket expenses. One in three Americans told Gallup that they had put off seeking care because of the cost, among the highest response rate since Gallup began asking this question in the year 2000.
- Patients with incomes under $30,000 per year were least likely to put off care, with 35% saying they had done so this year, down from 43% last year. Meanwhile, middle-class and higher income families with incomes between $30,000 and $75,000 per year were more likely to put off care this year than last year, with 38% postponing care as opposed to 33% in 2013. And the percentage of those putting off care above $75,000 a year went up from 17% last year to 28% this year.
- Among those that have put off treatment, 22% said it was for a serious or somewhat serious medical condition.
Dive Insight:
With patients facing higher deductibles for the health plans than ever before, it's hardly surprising that growing numbers are putting off care. While high-deductible plans assume that patients can self fund the deductible, making them smarter shoppers, the Gallup data suggests that even among higher income brackets, many patients don't feel they can afford to do so.
This data should alarm healthcare industry leaders and policymakers. After all, current efforts around ACOs and population health management assume that providers can intervene to promote wellness and manage chronic conditions before they become too costly. If patients fail to get the care they need because they can't afford to pay for it, it completely defeats the purpose of such population management efforts.
Ultimately, those who back high deductibles and those who are trying to lower health costs by promoting wellness and intervening early in care of the chronically ill are headed for a collision. Arguably, these competing incentives—a desire to avoid excessively costly care in patients and the need to control population health costs—aren't compatible.