Report Finds Fault With Health Insurance

High deductibles, co-payments could leave many in financial bind, authors say

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

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THURSDAY, March 22 (HealthDay News) -- Having health insurance is no guarantee that an illness or injury won't leave you in dire financial straits, a new report contends.

"Our interviews found that health insurance did not fulfill its primary purpose," study author Carol Pryor, a senior policy analyst at the Boston-based Access Project, said during a teleconference. "When people got sick, insurance did not protect them from overwhelming financial losses or allow them to access needed care."

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"The only thing worse than being uninsured is paying to be uninsured," Joseph Ditre, executive director of Consumers for Affordable Health Care, said during the teleconference. "And that's what high-deductible plans are doing."

The report, The Illusion of Coverage: How Health Insurance Fails People When They Get Sick, was issued Thursday by the Access Project and Brandeis University. Its findings were based on interviews with 45 insured Americans in seven states.

Among the report's key findings:

• Shifting more costs of care onto patients through high deductibles, co-insurance, and less comprehensive coverage creates significant health access and financial consequences.
• Confusing insurance company policies and procedures leave patients confused, in debt, reluctant to seek health care, and vulnerable to predatory scam products.
• Affordability of health insurance must be judged on more than premiums -- it is necessary to consider the costs that people will face should they get sick.

Pryor placed blame for the problem on the insurance industry's doorstep. "The insurance industry is not being held accountable for the quality of its products and services," she said. "Without providing adequate support for consumers and holding insurers to higher standards, we risk trading the problems of lack of health insurance for the equally serious ones of inadequate insurance."

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