Taking Control: Consumers Becoming More Cost-Conscious of Health Care Providers

The Affordable Care Act strives to give the public ownership of their health insurance decisions. What we’re seeing in our market, and throughout the country, is the natural increase in the desire of individuals to “understand” and to be better actual consumers. As a result, hospitals are seeing more price-based healthcare decisions than ever before.

As detailed in the Jan. 12 Crain’s Cleveland article, “More Local Consumers Are Pricing Out Health Care,” by Timothy Magaw:

“With people on the hook for larger portions of their medical bills, especially as the Affordable Care Act takes hold, Northeast Ohio hospitals expect consumers to do a little more price shopping before they commit to care.”

Magaw shared that emergency situations aren’t necessarily the main concern for hospitals, rather for elective procedures or tests, where they “increasingly expect consumers to seek out the best deal, while hoping they’ll keep quality in mind.”

MEETING IN THE MIDDLE

While it is imperative to educate clients and their employees about the need to be better consumers – we can only take them halfway down the road. As advisors, we provide the information, and do our best to educate on the ‘how to’…but it requires the effort on the consumer’s part to follow through and make sound purchasing decisions.

Frankly, when it hits close to home with their own dollars and cents (copays, deductibles and/or out of pockets costs), this is where theory turns into practice, and we can see the impact of savings in the utilization results.

There are a number of websites that can make smart shopping an easier task – including carrier websites. But it also takes time to understand the tools and technologies.

Your advisor should be focused on strategies surrounding education, communication, and supporting tools and collateral that assist your consumers (employees) in being fiscally responsible with everyone’s money: the carriers’ who are paying the claims, that ultimately affect costs (the rates that you pay if fully-inured, or the actual cost of the claim that you pay if self-funded)…as well as their own out of pocket costs.

Has the ACA prompted change in your attitudes or healthcare decision making or buying behaviors?

Contact me to discuss more.