How Out-of-Pocket Costs Affect Satisfaction with Health Plans
Posted on Fri, Mar 19, 2010
How do out-of-pocket costs affect participants' satisfaction with a health plan?
The 2009 EBRI/MGA Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey, which provides nationally representativedata regarding the growth of consumer-driven health plans (CDHP) and high-deductible health plans (HDHP),answers that and other questions about consumer satisfaction levels for the years 2005 through 2009. Here are some of the details:
• In 2009, 52 percent of traditional plan participants were extremely or very satisfied with out-of-pocket costs for health care services other than for prescription drugs.
• In contrast, 20 percent of HDHP enrollees were satisfied and 29 percent of CDHP participants were satisfied.
Differences in out-of-pocket costs may explain a significant portion of the difference in overall satisfaction rates between traditional plan, HDHP, and CDHP enrollees. (For details of satisfaction levels by plan type, see Fast Facts from EBRI Feb 10, 2010.
Traditional = Health plan with no deductible or less than $1,000 deductible for an individual and less than $2,000 for a family.
HDHP = Health plan with deductible of $1,000 or more for an individual and $2,000 or more for a family, and no health reimbursement account (HRA) or health savings account (HSA).
CDHP = Consumer-driven health plan with deductible of $1,000 or more for an individual and $2,000 or more for a family, with a HRA or HSA.
More details of the 2005-2007 EBRI/Commonwealth Fund Consumerism in Health Care Surveys, and the 2008-2009 EBRI/MGA Consumer Engagement in Health Care Surveys, including more information about consumer satisfaction levels, appear in the December 2009 EBRI Issue Brief, available at www.ebri.org
Fast Facts from EBRI is issued by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute to highlight benefits information that may be of current interest. Established in 1978, EBRI is an independent nonprofit organization committed exclusively to data dissemination, policy research, and education on economic security and employee benefits. EBRI does not take policy positions and does not lobby.
-Employee Benefit Research Institute
