The pace of change in the health care market might be glacial when it comes to consumer engagement, but it remains steady. Employers, and by extension their employees, are moving toward a more account-based form of health care funding, but it's clearly not happening overnight.
A new study from the Employee Benefit Research Institute bears that out. Roughly 10 percent of the population was enrolled in a consumer-driven plan this year, up 3 percent from last year. High-deductible health plan enrollment remained static at 16 percent. Not surprisingly, the numbers skew younger, according to the latest Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey, with nearly 19 million consumers (with private insurance) aged 21-64 enrolled, representing more than 15 percent of the demographic.
So, it's clear this market is growing, and represents nothing less than the future of employer-sponsored (or partially subsidized) health care. It might just take a little while to get there.
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But the real takeaway here is how this increased responsibility (in terms of funding health care costs) immediately translates into increased responsibility (for personal behavior to manage said costs). Policy makers, eggheads and brokers have been saying it for years: Get employees more involved in actually paying the bills and they'll respond accordingly.
For starters, the survey reveals those in a CDHP were "more likely than those with traditional coverage to exhibit a number of cost-conscious behaviors. They were more likely to say that they had checked whether their plan would cover care; asked for a generic drug instead of a brand name; talked to their doctor about prescription options and costs; developed a budget to manage health care expenses; checked the price of a service before getting care; and used an online cost-tracking tool."
CDHP enrollees also appear to be more proactive about cost of care information and they "were more likely than traditional-plan enrollees to report that they tried to use the information. CDHP enrollees were also more likely to try to find information about their doctors' costs and quality from sources other than the health plan."
This is no difference in your average grocery shopper comparing Sunday flyers and clipping coupons. When it's their own money involved, they'll put in the extra work to save a few pennies.
That's further borne out by the greater tendency of CDHP enrollees "to report that they were offered a cash incentive or reward to participate in a wellness program when a program was offered. When it comes to participating in a wellness program, CDHP enrollees were more likely than traditional-plan enrollees to take advantage of the program. The top reasons CDHP enrollees gave for participating were that they were offered incentive prizes and reduced premiums."
And, finally, while consumers across the board are much more technologically savvy than ever before—with a third of consumers using a health-related smartphone or tablet app—CDHP enrollees made more of an effort to search out providers based on their use (or non-use) of health information technology.
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