Tuesday, August 24, 20040
The black box of health care costs
Trent has written a dissenting opinion on the piece by Mr. Baker yesterday in the Boston Globe. He writes:
With the inevitable and growing trend towards deductible insurance, patients will have no choice but to shop around for the best price on tests. With the responsibility of costs shifting to the patient, you can bet that's pretty good incentive to seek price information. The days of comprehensive third-party payer coverage are over. Also, informing patients on the cost can certainly cut down on unnecessary testing that patients frequently demand; especially if it comes out of their own pocket.
Consumers only want and seek the information if the benefits of such information exceed the costs of finding it. Part of the reason things stand as they do is that patients do not save from finding this pricing information. This is the fundamental problem with third-party payers, whether they be HMOs in a employer-based insurance structure or governments in a national health care system. Why would anyone ever have the incentive to seek price information, and more importantly, to act on that information, if the benefits acrue to a third party?
With the inevitable and growing trend towards deductible insurance, patients will have no choice but to shop around for the best price on tests. With the responsibility of costs shifting to the patient, you can bet that's pretty good incentive to seek price information. The days of comprehensive third-party payer coverage are over. Also, informing patients on the cost can certainly cut down on unnecessary testing that patients frequently demand; especially if it comes out of their own pocket.
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