The healthcare cost revolution will not be televised either
The quote at the end of yesterday's Boston Globe article (Consumers struggle to find information on health care costs, poll shows) made me laugh.
“We’re seeing more and more consumer awareness every year,” [an insurance executive] told the Globe. “It’s a revolution that’s occurring, but it occurs over time.”
When I read about this 'revolution' it brought to mind an expression/poem/song from long ago: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised! The timeframe for the healthcare cost 'revolution' is on the order of decades, and I don't think anyone will be able to sit still for a TV show of that length!Not surprisingly, the Pioneer Institute's survey demonstrated that while people with commercial insurance are interested in obtaining price information before receiving a healthcare service, they don't often get it. Only 2 to 7 percent of people check costs on insurers' websites, according to the Attorney General.Although that number seems crazily low, it's actually easy to understand once you consider the multitude of the barriers:
- Patients don't know what services they're going to need
- Choice of provider often trumps cost as a factor
- Their health plans may not reward or punish them for saving or spending more money
- Next year's insurance premiums are unaffected by what they do this year
- Those with a high deductible plan are likely to blow through the deductible anyway if they have serious medical expenses
- Insurers' cost estimators aren't easy to use
- The estimates may not be accurate anyway
- People haven't heard about the available tools
I'm an educated consumer with a high deductible plan but I don't try to check the costs ahead of time.So there's no need to be glued to your TV (or other device) watching this 'revolution.'
By healthcare business consultant David E. Williams, president of Health Business Group.