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Will ACA's High Deductibles Impact Collections?


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Interesting thought.  Patients are so used to coming to the doctor and paying the bill weeks later.  Do those who sign up for ACA insurance still have to pay the deductible if they are low-income and get subsidies?  I'm assuming yes.  I think with the high deductibles people will NOT come to the doctor unless they absolutely must. 

 

The ER visit for a hangnail should quickly stop when it is realized the deductible must be paid first.

The clinic visit for a runny nose that has been present for 1 hour should stop when it is realized a deductible must be paid.

Clinic won't get paid as the deductible will bankrupt some patients. 

 

The ACA has solved the doctor shortage with the high deductibles??????

 

My weird way of thinking...smile.

 

The ER visit for a hangnail should quickly stop when it is realized the deductible must be paid first.

 

 

The people who do this type of thing in the first place are, almost exclusively, patients who do not have private insurance anyway.. they are medicaid pts with no copay for ER visits, which is why you see that type of crap. The ER is just a 24-hour doctor's office, as many people see it. People with private insurance are usually more reasonable and are going to do try, if possible, to wait it out over the weekend and be seen in the clinic, or go to an urgent care.. rather than pay a $100 copay or something like that, just to walk through the doors of the ER.

My sister and her family just switched to a plan provided through exchanges. Previously their private PPO (BCBS) for their family of 4 had a $1250 monthly premium and an $8500 yearly deductible. Under the exchange their monthly premium for the same type of PPO is $550 and the deductible is only $3000. This saves them over $10,000 a year and also lowers the deductible to the point that it is much more likely they would be able to keep up with it.

 

They have a son with Muscular Dystrophy so they regularly met the deductible. This is saving them a LOT of money and puts them in a much, much better financial position. For my family this is significant.

My sister and her family just switched to a plan provided through exchanges. Previously their private PPO (BCBS) for their family of 4 had a $1250 monthly premium and an $8500 yearly deductible. Under the exchange their monthly premium for the same type of PPO is $550 and the deductible is only $3000. This saves them over $10,000 a year and also lowers the deductible to the point that it is much more likely they would be able to keep up with it.

 

They have a son with Muscular Dystrophy so they regularly met the deductible. This is saving them a LOT of money and puts them in a much, much better financial position. For my family this is significant.

There will be winners, and there will be losers.  Fortunately for your sister's family, they are in the former.  (Have them wait by the phone because I'm sure the Obama administration will be contacting them soon to appear in an ad!)

With seemingly everyone moving to high-deductible plans under Obamacare, will this create issues for collections?

 

Where did you get the idea that seemingly everyone is moving to high-deductible plans under Obamacare?

I didn't think it was a secret.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-15/obamacare-deductibles-26-higher-make-cheap-rates-a-risk.html (plus a million others).

 

Do you have information that most people's deductibles are going lower?

 

The article you posted is about a subset of insurance policies that are purchased on the individual market through the exchanges. This makes up a small minority of policies in this country. It is a far cry from seemingly everyone is moving to high-deductible plans under Obamacare.

 

Also, the article is focusing primarily on the bronze-level plans (which by design have lower premiums with higher deductibles.) I have not seen any data that suggests that the majority of people signing up for insurance through the individual market exchanges are choosing the bronze plans with high deductibles over the silver, gold, or platinum subsets of policies that have much lower deductibles. If you have such data, I would be happy to read it.

  • 2 weeks later...

One of the cardiologists I work with stated she believes most, if not all of the legislation is going to be repealed within 3-4 years.  This view is not shared with patients in this office of course, but I think it is important for planning purposes for anyone involved in the industry.   

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