31M Left Underinsured by High Healthcare Costs: Report
Wednesday, May 20, 2015 08:15 AM
By: Melanie Batley
Roughly one-quarter of people with health insurance are paying deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses that are so high they are considered underinsured, a new study has found.
The 2014 national health insurance survey by the Commonwealth Fund estimates that 31 million insured people are not sufficiently protected against high healthcare costs, a figure that has doubled since 2003, The Hill reported.
The report said that rising deductibles is the biggest problem for those considered underinsured, even with the advent of Obamacare.
"The steady growth in the proliferation and size of deductibles threatens to increase underinsurance in the years ahead," the report warns, according to The Hill.
The survey also found that people who purchase the lowest quality health coverage are also less likely to see a doctor when sick or injured because they fear high out-of-pocket costs.
"People who have high deductibles do tend to skimp on healthcare," the study's lead author, Sara Collins, told reporters, according to The Hill.
According to the report, half of underinsured adults and 41 percent of privately insured adults with deductibles of at least $1,000 had medical bills totaling $4,000 or more.
The report casts doubt on the Obama administration's promise that millions of people would gain access to affordable healthcare under Obamacare. Nevertheless, the report does not take account of the people who were uninsured before 2014.
"We're unable to separately assess the effects of the law with these data," Collins said, according to The Hill. "What we're seeing, though, in the data is ever-growing deductibles."
Despite the increase in deductibles, healthcare costs overall have not risen as of late, something which the Obama administration has taken partial credit for, The Hill said.
Specifically, the rate of those underinsured has flattened over the last several years, with the biggest increases in the underinsured population occurring between 2003 and 2010.
The study found that those most likely to be underinsured are employed by small businesses, The Hill reported.
http://www.newsmax.com/US/healthcare-insurance-deductibles-costs/2015/05/20/id/645630/
