Media Webinar Briefing

Rethinking Consumerism in Healthcare Benefit Design

For decades, rising healthcare costs have strained household, employer and government budgets. A strategy often proposed to address high costs is to give consumers more “skin in the game,” through high-deductible health plan—sometimes called consumer-directed health plans.

But a wealth of evidence suggests that high-deductible health plans are not leading to better value in our healthcare system. 

What

This briefing described the key evidence against high-deductible health plans and the alternatives that payers should use instead. Below are story ideas and links to key resources.

When

June 17, 2016

Speaker

Lynn Quincy, director, Healthcare Value Hub

Resources

• Webinar Recording (YouTube)
• Research Brief: Rethinking Consumerism in Healthcare Benefit Design
• Resources Page

Story Ideas

• New survey shows HDHPs becoming more prevalent—question why employers and health plans aren’t retooling in light of this evidence.
• Open Enrollment and only choice(s) are HDHP—same question as above.
• Healthcare prices/overall spending rises faster than wages and the general economy—push back on claims that “skin in the game” will solve this problem.
• Consumers can’t afford their deductibles—ask plans, regulators and policymakers: Why are we subjecting them to these deductibles given the evidence?

If you have questions, please contact Tad Lee at tad.lee@consumer.org or 202-462-6262.