Even As Patients Assume More Health Costs, Price Details Difficult To Find
Although consumers are often counseled to shop around for cheaper health care, the effort is challenging because of the lack of price transparency. Meanwhile in other news about insurance and the health law, media outlets in Iowa and Connecticut report that enrollment is going well there, but another report points out the extremes that some people must go to when hoping to keep affordable coverage.
Roll Call:
Consumers Lack Information on High-Deductible Plans Favored by GOP
As millions of Americans debate their insurance options for next year, experts are urging consumers to shop around. But without additional price transparency in a fractured and confusing delivery system, many Americans are simply rolling the dice. And the ability to shop is limited since many doctors, such as [Chris] Raymond’s, typically have admitting procedures at specific hospitals. The number of high-deductible plans has steadily increased since 2005, according to data from the insurance industry’s main interest group, America’s Health Insurance Plans, or AHIP. In 2016, approximately 20.2 million people were enrolled in high-deductible plans, an increase of nearly half a million consumers from the previous year. (Clason, 12/4)
Iowa Public Radio:
More Than 17,000 Iowans Have Signed Up For Obamacare
It’s one month into the sign-up period for the Affordable Care Act, and the number of Iowans who have signed up for health insurance is much higher than at this time last year. (Sostaric, 12/1)
The Connecticut Mirror:
Access Health Projecting 2018 Enrollment Will Match Last Year’s
With about three weeks left in open enrollment, Access Health CT CEO Jim Wadleigh estimates the health insurance exchange will end the enrollment period with about the same number of customers it had at the end of last year’s signup. (Rigg, 12/1)
Kaiser Health News:
Middle-Class Earners Weigh Love And Money To Curb Obamacare Premiums
Anne Cornwell considered two drastic strategies in her quest to get affordable health insurance premiums last year for herself and her retired husband. One was divorce. Another was taking a 30 percent pay cut. She chose the latter. (Bluth, 12/4)
