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COVID-19 hospitalizations could mean significant out-of-pocket medical costs for many Americans:
For their study, the researchers analyzed out-of-pocket costs for pneumonia and other upper respiratory illness hospitalizations from January 2016 through August 2019 as a potential indicator of likely COVID-19 costs. The researchers found that these out-of-pocket costs were particularly high for so-called consumer-directed health plans -- which typically feature lower premiums, compared to standard plans, but higher deductibles that can be paid via tax-advantaged health savings accounts.
[...] Many big-name health insurers have voluntarily waived out-of-pocket cost sharing for COVID-19 treatment. However, employer-sponsored "self-insured" health insurance plans are not required to adhere to such waivers. Thus, tens of millions of Americans have high-deductible insurance plans that, in cases of COVID-19 hospitalization, may expose them to relatively high out-of-pocket costs.
[...] To get a sense of the likely cost burden on patients hospitalized for COVID-19, Eisenberg and colleagues examined de-identified insurance claims for 34,395 unique hospitalizations from January 2016 through August 2019. They looked at out-of-pocket costs incurred by people who had been hospitalized during the 2016-2019 study period with pneumonia, acute bronchitis, lower respiratory infections, and acute respiratory distress syndrome. (Claims data on actual COVID-19 cases were not available in the database at the time of the study.) The cases examined did not include those for people ages 65 and over, who are normally covered by Medicare. The out-of-pocket costs included deductible payments, copayments, and coinsurance payments.
The researchers found that average out-of-pocket spending for the 2016-2019 study period for these respiratory hospitalizations was $1,961 for patients with consumer-directed plans versus $1,653 for patients in traditional, usually smaller-deductible plans.
The out-of-pocket cost gap was lowest for older patients age 56 to 64, and greatest -- $2,237 vs. $1,685 -- for patients 21 and younger. The analysis was not designed to examine why the cost gap varied inversely with patient age, but one possible explanation proposed by the researchers was that, since younger patients are healthier on average, their hospitalizations may reflect more serious and thus more costly illness.
Journal Reference: Matthew D. Eisenberg, Colleen L. Barry, Cameron Schilling, Alene Kennedy-Hendricks. Financial Risk for COVID-19-like Respi- ratory Hospitalizations in Consumer-Directed Health Plans, American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2020), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2020.05.008
(Score: 5, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday June 17 2020, @12:02AM (7 children)
Here is my story: A couple of years ago I got a call from Mrs PartTimeZombie telling me she'd fallen and broken her ankle.
By the time I got home the ambulance was there and she was admitted to hospital.
6 weeks and two operations later, I was still complaining about having to pay $4 an hour for parking to visit her.
That was my total "out of pocket" and that is how the entire civised world does healthcare, because it is cheaper and works better for everyone except insurance companies.
I'm sorry you have such dishonest system. Maybe you should consider emigration.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 17 2020, @12:10AM (3 children)
Seems strange to ignore that you have paid taxes over the years for this service.
(Score: 5, Informative) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday June 17 2020, @01:17AM (1 child)
Who is ignoring it? That is entirely my point.
I don't have to worry about losing my house because of an accident. You do.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 17 2020, @01:36AM
No I dont. People who gave all their money to insurance companies and live in houses they cant afford do.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 17 2020, @02:29PM
And presumably you are not?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 17 2020, @04:53AM (2 children)
Like most of the 'civilized world' which you mention require you to have specialized skills, a masters degree, or a lot of money in order to give you a working or resident visa. Furthermore, many explicitly state you will have to pay for any medical care you recieve while there (the on-the ground realities may or may not be in line with that.) I don't remember exactly which countries I got that information from, but it was among norway, denmark, belgium, netherlands and a few other of the more prominent european countries.
Lots of other places have far lower scrutiny of immigrants, but also have fewer opportuntiies, more corruption, and questionable or limited first world medical care available.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday June 17 2020, @09:23AM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 17 2020, @12:24PM
I'm sure it won't be a problem when I tell her I just want to get married so the state will pay for my herpes meds.