According to authors Frank Wharam, MB, BCh, BAO, MPH, Dennis Ross-Degnan, ScD, and colleagues, an increasingly HDHP-oriented health system could have unintended consequences but proactive strategies could prevent worsening of health outcomes and disparities. To prevent negative effects of increased HDHP enrollment, policymakers and employers could adopt common sense strategies such as:
- Educating consumers about the best venues for buying health insurance, e.g., through an employer versus a state health insurance exchange.
- Offering low-cost-sharing plans to vulnerable individuals, which might be most feasible at large employers.
- Facilitating contributions to non-taxed Health Savings Accounts for low-income workers.
- Increasing consumer education about coverage details of HDHPs
- Encouraging shared patient-physician decision-making at or before the point of care, and providing patients with decision-support tools.
In addition, research is urgently needed on HDHPs’ long-term effects on major health outcomes and vulnerable populations. Such research could facilitate creation of more sophisticated "personalized health insurance" designs tailored to improve health in specific populations.
To read the complete “Perspective” click here.