Government health care, learning from Medicare and Medicaid

Jun 10
2009
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medical-price-trends2

What’s the real problem with health care?  Can HSA’s really help?  Will government intervention fix all of our problems so we can sing Kumbaya by the campfire?  The chart above may help us to uncover some of the problems by comparing some cases and seeing why differences exist.

Here I have indexed to 1996 as 100, the price of breast augmentation, liposuction, hip replacement, arthroscopy, and the overall CPI as a benchmark.  I consider the breast augmentation and liposuction in one group, and the hip replacement and arthroscopy in the other.  I know from the data that in 2006 67% of charges for hip replacement were paid by Medicare or Medicaid and the same was true for 74% of arthroscopy charges in 2006.

I don’t know these breakouts for certain in the breast augmentation and liposuction realms, but I do know that significant numbers of these procedures are for cosmetic purposes only and are not even covered by insurance, let alone Medicare or Medicaid.  I also know that there are open markets where consumers can shop by price and quality (BidforSurgery.com) rather than find a good doctor and get surprised by a mammoth bill.

However, a large portion of consumers are only concerned with the first part of my last statement “find a good doctor” because they are not paying firsthand the costs of many of the procedures performed and medicines prescribed.  When considering all hospital discharges, a little over 61% of charges were paid by either Medicare or Medicaid in 2006, so the examples I have are slightly higher than the total, but not significantly.

Some within the 30% of charges paid by private insurance may have little or significantly reduced exposure to firsthand payment for medical care as they sport the platinum plated Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan that is significantly subsidized, if not entirely paid for by the employer.  Some are heavily exposed to firsthand cost under an High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) that is being marketed in conjunction with Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) as a cheaper alternative for small to medium sized businesses.

Now both the uninsured and those with HDHPs suffer from escalating prices for medical care in a market where significant numbers of consumers have little or no price sensitivity because they do not pay for their own care!  A significant portion of this lack of price sensitivity is from those on the Medicare/Medicaid rolls who may not even have the possibility of future cost exposure either.  Thus, a significant portion of the rising costs in medical care are generated by the government, not solved by the government.

HSAs don’t really help to solve the problem when so much of the consumer market has little to no price sensitivity and the only ones hurt are the ones that have the HDHP/HSA and have to pay the cost of care that others are receiving for free.  This may drive down demand for consumers on HDHP/HSA plans, but they are such a small portion of the market that the impact on price is not significant.  In the cosmetic surgery cases, price sensitivity rations care and controls prices because the majority of participants in that market pay the full cost first hand.  Even if all those covered by private insurance were on the HDHP/HSA plan, over 60% of hospital charges in 2006 would have been incurred by patients on the government plans, making up the majority of consumers in that market.

Data used was compiled from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Written by Shane in: Economics | Tags: , , , ,

HSA to save the day

Nov 02
2007
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Accounting Web featured an article applauding the value that HSA’s (Health Savings Accounts) may add to health care options during this fall’s open enrollment season.  High deductible health plans (HDHP’s) paired with an HSA account give employees the option to shoulder the burden of first dollar coverage (up to their deductible – minimum of $1,100 for individuals and $2,200 for families) while maintaining an adequate plan to cover catastrophic events.

This is an excellent option for those that are not often sick and will likely need only routine checkups to maintain their health.  Many HDHP plans offer coverage for preventative care in total, but not for sick care.  However, those with young children or sickly spouses will quickly eat up big chunks of their deductible on sick care and have to shoulder the burden of these costs up to their deductible amount. 

In the end, a lower upfront premium can become a higher total cost of health care for employees with families that do not have an alternative option elsewhere.  However, insurance companies will penalize employers for offering an regular PPO plan alongside the HDHP plan because of issues with adverse selection (those with families and those that are sickly will likely choose the regular PPO, while the young, single, and healthy will take advantage of the premium savings and tax advantaged savings in the HDHP/HSA combination).

For employers and employees in the open market more options are better, but for those that switch from a regular PPO as their only option to an HDHP/HSA combination as their only option, the winners will be the employers and young, single, and healthy employees at the expense of employees with families that do not have a PPO option through the spouses employment (it is very likely that both spouses may simultaneously lose the PPO option as employers opt for lower premiums offered by the HSA/HDHP combination).

Written by Shane in: General | Tags: , , , , ,