Dive Brief:
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The premise that high-deductible health plans should result in lower healthcare costs may be misguided, suggests a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research.
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The researchers looked at a firm that moved more than 75,000 employees from a plan with no deductible into one with a $3,750 deductible in 2013 to see how that impacted their healthcare patterns.
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Rather than shopping for lower-priced healthcare options, even though they were provided a tool to do so, plan members simply cut way back on their healthcare--which is not entirely good news.
Dive Insight:
Average per-patient healthcare spending dropped 15% in just one year, the study found. However, while workers reduced their use of "potentially wasteful care," such as imaging services, they also reduced their use of "potentially valuable care," such as preventive visits. Notably, the sickest workers were most likely to skimp on care until they hit their deductible.
The finding suggests patients aren't catching on to healthcare price shopping, even when incentivized to do so with a $3,750 deductible and a $3,750 subsidy for their health savings account.
"I am a little bit surprised at just how poorly patients were able to do when looking at very similar products, like MRI scans, and with a shopping tool," study co-author Jonathan Kolstad told Vox. "Two years in, and there's still no evidence they're price shopping." He suggests over time, the reduced use of healthcare could result in sicker workers and higher overall costs.