Impact of high-deductible health plans on health care utilization and costs.

ABSTRACT:

Background

High-deductible health plans (HDHPs) are of high interest to employers, policy makers, and insurers because of potential benefits and risks of this fundamentally new coverage model.

Objective

To investigate the impact of HDHPs on health care utilization and costs in a heterogeneous group of enrollees from a variety of individual and employer-based health plans.

Data

Claims and member data from a major insurer and zip code-level census data.

Study design

Retrospective difference-in-differences analyses were used to examine the impact of HDHP plans. This analytical approach compared changes in utilization and expenditures over time (2007 versus 2005) across the two comparison groups (HDHP switchers versus matched PPO controls).

Results

In two-pa

SUBMITTER: Waters TM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3034267 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature