From The Archives: Prices And Consumer Shopping

Welcome to “From the Archives,” an occasional Health Affairs Blog series, where we take a timely topic and delve into the literature and history, from a Health Affairs angle, of course. The American Health Care Act and the proposed Better Care Reconciliation Act would both result in higher premiums and deductibles for many individuals in the private nongroup market according to the Congressional Budget Office. While the path forward for health reform is now somewhat unclear, the trend of higher consumer cost sharing will likely continue. Higher deductibles and cost sharing are often touted as ways for individuals to have “skin in the game” in health care costs and to help consumers be better shoppers. But what does the research say about the ability to truly shop for health care services? Is it possible? Does it save money? And do consumers even want to do it? Here’s what we know based on research published in the pages of Health Affairs. Health Care Prices Vary a Lot – And Not Because of Quality Health care prices are notoriously opaque and vary widely depending on where you live. Consumers are aware of their copay or coinsurance but the true price is often masked because it is billed to the insurance company and the balance is collected later. There’s also the issue of list prices versus the price paid by insurance companies and consumers. This post won’t focus much on that except to say that consumers without insurance pay more than insurance comp...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Elsewhere@ Health Affairs Featured From the Archives shoppable health care Source Type: blogs