Study: Co-pay hike ups hospital stays
Ablang
Higher out-of-pocket leads many to defer care
Alicia Chang / Associated Press
Los Angeles -- Higher Medicare co- pays, sometimes just a few dollars
more, led to fewer doctors visits and to more and longer hospital
stays, a large new study reveals.
With health care costs skyrocketing, many public and private insurers
have required patients to pay more out-of-pocket when they seek care.
The new study confirms what many policymakers had feared: cost-
shifting moves can backfire.
"Patients may defer needed care and may wind up with a serious health
event that might put them in the hospital. That's not good for the
patients, not good for society, not good for anybody," said Dr. Tim
Carey, who heads the University of North Carolina's Sheps Center for
Health Services Research.
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Carey had no role in the research, published in today's New England
Journal of Medicine.
The study included nearly 900,000 seniors in 36 Medicare managed-care
plans from 2001 to 2006. During that period, half of the plans raised
co-pays for visits to doctors and specialists. Researchers compared
medical use patterns in those plans with use in similar Medicare
managed-care plans that kept co-pays the same. Co-pays for
prescription drugs remained unchanged in all plans.
Among plans that increased patient cost-sharing, the average co-pay
for a doctor visit roughly doubled, from $7.38 to $14.38. The co-pay
to see a specialist jumped from $12.66 to $22.05. By contrast, the
average co-pay for unchanged plans was $8.33 to see a doctor and
$11.38 to see a specialist.
For every 100 people enrolled in plans that raised co-pays, there were
20 fewer doctor visits, two additional hospital admissions and 13 more
days spent in the hospital in the year after the increase compared to
those in plans whose co-pays did not change, researchers found.
The study was funded by grants from Pfizer Inc. and the federal
government.
http://detnews.com/article/20100128/LIFESTYLE03/1280409/Study--Co-pay-hike-ups-hospital-stays
Rod Speed
> Study: Co-pay hike ups hospital stays
> Higher out-of-pocket leads many to defer care
> Alicia Chang / Associated Press
> Los Angeles -- Higher Medicare co- pays, sometimes
> just a few dollars more, led to fewer doctors visits and to
> more and longer hospital stays, a large new study reveals.
> With health care costs skyrocketing,
Usual mindless hysterical language.
> many public and private insurers have required patients to pay more
> out-of-pocket when they seek care. The new study confirms what
> many policymakers had feared: cost-shifting moves can backfire.
Hardly ever in the real world.
> "Patients may defer needed care and may wind up with
> a serious health event that might put them in the hospital.
Yes, that can certainly happen, but MUCH more often what actually
happens is that patients dont bother with a doctor for stuff like the
common cold which no doctor can do a damned thing about and
is usually stupid enough to proscribe an antibiotic for when they
know damned well that that is completely useless for a common
cold and that just ensures that we dont have viable antibiotics
when we need them for infections that they are effective for.
> That's not good for the patients, not good for society, not good for anybody,"
That is a bare faced lie.
> said Dr. Tim Carey, who heads the University of North
> Carolina's Sheps Center for Health Services Research.
> Carey had no role in the research, published in today's New England
> Journal of Medicine.
> The study included nearly 900,000 seniors in 36 Medicare managed-care
> plans from 2001 to 2006. During that period, half of the plans raised
> co-pays for visits to doctors and specialists. Researchers compared
> medical use patterns in those plans with use in similar Medicare
> managed-care plans that kept co-pays the same. Co-pays for
> prescription drugs remained unchanged in all plans.
> Among plans that increased patient cost-sharing, the average
> co-pay for a doctor visit roughly doubled, from $7.38 to $14.38.
Not even the cost of a decent meal, fuckwit.
> The co-pay to see a specialist jumped from $12.66 to $22.05.
Ditto.