Health Populi June 21, 2022
When high-deductible health plans became part of health insurance design in America, they were lauded as giving patients “more skin in the game” of health care payments.
The theory behind consumer-directed care was that patients-as-consumers would shop around for care, morph into rational consumers of medical services just as they would do purchasing autos or washing machines, and shift the cost-curve of American health care ever downward.
That skin-in-the-game has been a risk factor for .some patients to postpone care as well as take on medical debt — the strongest predictor of which is dealing with multiple chronic conditions.
“The link between sickness and debt is a defining feature of American health care,” The Urban Institute has said based on...