Creative ways people deal with high cost of care

Search results for “ways to get around health insurance deductibles”

We are living in a world where for many, a high-deductible health insurance plan is the most affordable option. Sure, it’s cheaper up front, but there’s an expensive trade off. When that person’s health declines and they need medical care, they’re going to pay a lot more out-of-pocket costs before their insurance kicks in. These high deductible plans, or HDHPs, put a financial burden on patients, pushing them to seek out alternative ways to reduce their healthcare costs. And people are becoming more creative all the time. It may not be surprising to learn that there are more than 40 million search results for “ways to get around health insurance deductibles.” This obviously sparked our interest, so we’ve taken it upon ourselves to share a partial list of all the things we found. Don’t worry, this isn’t all of them.

Clever ways that patients avoid healthcare costs:

Using alternatives to health care services

• Third Party Ambulances: Consumers are using services like Uber and Lyft to transport them to the hospital, instead of using an ambulance, which could rack up costs into the thousands. There’s even a company that’s trying to build a service that acts like Uber, but it sends an ambulance.
• Cheaper options: There are usually multiple ways to treat a health issue, some more than expensive than others. Finding out what the cheaper treatment options are allows patients to cut costs and still get treated.
• Telemedicine: A quick, convenient supplemental product that can help to reduce medical costs with over-the-phone or online healthcare consultations.
• Alternative therapies: Treatments such as acupuncture and chiropractic medicine can be cheaper than traditional therapies, and often don’t rely on prescription drugs to heal; instead they focus on body movement, internal energies and stimulation.

Using alternative funding sources

• Gap plans: When a person can’t afford out-of-pocket medical expenses, Gap Plans provide insurance for your insurance, used to cover these costs.
• FSAs: With job-based health insurance, some are able to take advantage of a flexible spending account, using a special tax advantage savings account for their health care.
• Borrowing from the future to pay for the present: Taking money out of retirement, borrowing from family or friends, taking on credit card debt, selling their stuff, or even gambling.
• PayDay loans: A small amount of cash borrowed at a high interest rate, which is expected to be paid back when the borrower receives their next paycheck. Just like loan sharks, this isn’t a great idea, but it could be the only way out for some.
• Charity Care: Hospitals may offer charity care to patients for free if they are unable to pay their medical bills and fit a certain criteria. This is made possible by government reimbursement, most of which is provided through Medicare and Medicaid.
• Medical debt: The Kaiser report finds that 70 percent of people who owe debt to medical providers are insured and more than half (54%) have employer-sponsored coverage.
• At the request of their doctor, paying upfront: Medical practices and hospitals are putting themselves one step ahead of the game and asking for payment before the procedure or service.
• Crowdfunding: Medical expenses have become so expensive that they are the single largest crowdfunding category. From surgery costs to cancer treatments, patients have resorted to community wide donation initiatives.

Finding loopholes

• Negotiations: Patients are putting their negotiation skills to the test by being more assertive with their health care providers; haggling (same way you would when buying a car) or having financial discussions with doctors.
• Buy it. Change it. Use it. Drop it. There’s a lot of wiggle room within care plans to change coverage, receive the treatment, then simply drop the plan.
• Being more cost conscious: Knowing what services a plan covers, where insurance is accepted, or asking for generic medications instead of brand name medications are all ways that patients cut costs.
• Traveling to free medical clinics: In some instances, the most affordable option for medical treatment is through free medical clinics staffed by volunteers for patients who are uninsured. These clinics usually have limited accessibility, open just one or two days a week and require an appointment.
• Hospitals are essentially becoming banks: Forced to change their billing strategies to combat bad debt, hospitals are getting tough; sending patients with overdue balances to collection agencies.

Skipping or delaying care

• Useless Health Insurance: For some, deductibles are so high that they are forced to pay for all of their medical expenses out of pocket, leaving them with the choice of not seeking the medical attention that they need or going completely broke.
• Waiting for the right moment: Seeking treatment can’t always happen right away. In one particular instance, a patient decided that instead of receiving twice weekly allergy shots, for every week of the year and paying out of pocket for them, he would wait until their first child was born. Knowing full well that he and his wife would rack up many fees for their child’s birth, he knew that his insurance would kick in, allowing him to receive these allergy shots for “free.”
• The lure of a cheap health care plan: Young people are able to buy cheap, subsidized health care plans but end up never using them because of high deductibles, thus delaying care that could improve their health down the line.
• Going without tests, treatments and prescriptions: Whether it be not refilling prescriptions or missing annual appointments, people are picking and choosing the care they think they need or don’t need.
• Avoiding health care treatment altogether.

Shopping around

• Doing their homework: People are getting smarter about their decision making processes and are taking the proper steps to stay on top of all the fine print details hidden within health insurance policy details. Doing your homework will tell you exactly what your plan covers, what providers are in your network, etc.
• Patient Advocates / Billing Assistants: Patient Advocates “provide guidance on dealing with doctors, hospitals and insurance companies,” and will handle “negotiations and work to find satisfactory billing agreements.”
• Medical tourism, or seeking cheaper medical treatment outside of the US: “Between 600,000 and 800,000 U.S. consumers sought healthcare services outside of the United States in 2012. That number grew to an estimated 900,000 people in 2013, according to PBB.”
• Avoiding US Hospitals at all costs: Most out of country surgeries cost between 50% and 90% less than what the same surgery would cost in the US. Pushing those in need of costly medical procedures to seek out of country medical attention.

The cost of health care is clearly influencing consumers’ behaviors and their care decisions. If you’re ready for some new solutions, read our ebook, Mindset Reset: How the cost of healthcare is your biggest brand opportunity. It puts forth three mind shifts that healthcare marketers must make to survive in the new world of healthcare consumerism.

If you’re looking for more personalized help, you might want to schedule some time to chat with some of our experts. You can book an appointment right on our strategy director’s calendar here, or give us a call at 518.272.2800.