Policies and regulations can prove costly to producers and consumers in every industry, including health care. Regulations often increase the cost of doing business, and to offset these costs, companies raise prices for consumers. In health care, policies and regulations are impacting consumer costs in both negative and positive ways.
At the federal level, the individual mandate is a perfect example of how federal regulations have had a negative impact and increased consumer costs. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act this mandate increased the number of Americans with health care coverage. But as a direct result of more insured people and increased utilization of health benefits, there was an increase in deductible and premiums. Bronze and silver plans within these new insurance marketplaces have average deductibles of $5,181 and $2,927. High-deductible plans encourage consumers to seek high value care and shop around for better prices (Grande, 2016). Most Americans choose plans with higher deductibles because these plans have more affordable premiums.
Consumer-directed health care has shown to increase deductibles and premiums. However, one positive impact is the increase in price transparency. To encourage lower prices for health care services, some states have mandated that claims data from all payers be made public, while others strongly encourage it. An all payer claims database is an effective way that states are hoping to increase consumer transparency in relation to health care quality, safety, and most importantly costs. These state sites list cost information for medical procedures in hopes to influence consumer choices and help achieve lower healthcare costs. Now that consumers have access to compare prices on these public websites, health care providers are more conscious to offer competitive pricing (Castellucci, 2017).
Another result of rising consumer costs is a growing direct-to-consumer (DTC) medical marketplace. This market allows companies to perform tests without a physician being involved. The DTC market now offers genetic, blood, imaging, urine and saliva testing to screen for cancer and other diseases at a low cost to the patient (Rockwell, 2017). Health care consumers may take advantage of these services to avoid unnecessary physician visits and out of pocket costs.
Making better heath care choices seems to be the trend and future of our health care delivery system. Federal and state policies are impacting health insurance plans which can result in higher out of pocket costs for consumers. However, there are some policies which are requiring or encouraging price and quality transparency to make patients better consumers. In addition, consumers can order tests from DTC companies without the order or prescription of a physician.
At the federal level, the individual mandate is a perfect example of how federal regulations have had a negative impact and increased consumer costs. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act this mandate increased the number of Americans with health care coverage. But as a direct result of more insured people and increased utilization of health benefits, there was an increase in deductible and premiums. Bronze and silver plans within these new insurance marketplaces have average deductibles of $5,181 and $2,927. High-deductible plans encourage consumers to seek high value care and shop around for better prices (Grande, 2016). Most Americans choose plans with higher deductibles because these plans have more affordable premiums.
Consumer-directed health care has shown to increase deductibles and premiums. However, one positive impact is the increase in price transparency. To encourage lower prices for health care services, some states have mandated that claims data from all payers be made public, while others strongly encourage it. An all payer claims database is an effective way that states are hoping to increase consumer transparency in relation to health care quality, safety, and most importantly costs. These state sites list cost information for medical procedures in hopes to influence consumer choices and help achieve lower healthcare costs. Now that consumers have access to compare prices on these public websites, health care providers are more conscious to offer competitive pricing (Castellucci, 2017).
Another result of rising consumer costs is a growing direct-to-consumer (DTC) medical marketplace. This market allows companies to perform tests without a physician being involved. The DTC market now offers genetic, blood, imaging, urine and saliva testing to screen for cancer and other diseases at a low cost to the patient (Rockwell, 2017). Health care consumers may take advantage of these services to avoid unnecessary physician visits and out of pocket costs.
Making better heath care choices seems to be the trend and future of our health care delivery system. Federal and state policies are impacting health insurance plans which can result in higher out of pocket costs for consumers. However, there are some policies which are requiring or encouraging price and quality transparency to make patients better consumers. In addition, consumers can order tests from DTC companies without the order or prescription of a physician.