PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Insurance deductions”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 721 records · Page 40Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Capitation and insurance protection: how to protect against unpredictability.

Capitation contracting has created new challenges in the world of health care. The payment emphasis in a capitated environment concentrates on prepayment of services. Opportunities are created to control health care dollars by the physician or hospital group, but the potential downside must also be recognized. This article introduces the Provider Excess Loss (or "stop loss") insurance product and some of the main features of coverage. This insurance is specifically designed to protect providers in a capitated environment and is purchased by Physician Hospital Organizations (PHO), Independent Physician Associations (IPA), and physician-owned HMOs, among others. The emphasis is on collective purchasing. Focus on the main policy features-deductible options, allowable charges, and premium factors-should ensure a basic understanding of how coverage works and how to design coverage to make it fit the unique needs of each provider's risk.

Capitation Fee↗
PubMed1993

What states are doing to control health insurance costs.

Like other employers, state governments are struggling with continued health care cost increases. A 50-state survey reveals that these large public employers are actively attempting to control the cost of their plans while ensuring quality and a commitment to their employees' overall good health.

Cost Control↗
PubMed1990

Spend-down of assets before Medicaid eligibility among elderly nursing-home recipients in Michigan.

Many elderly persons enter nursing homes as private pay clients, spend their available life savings, and then apply for medical assistance under Medicaid after their assets are depleted. However, reliable data on the size and characteristics of this "spend-down" population have been lacking. This study used Medicaid claims and enrollment data to identify the proportion of elderly Medicaid nursing-home users who originally entered nursing homes as private pay clients versus those eligible for Medicaid before or concurrent with, their nursing-home admission. The study population consisted of all elderly nursing-home users receiving Medicaid in Michigan in 1984, a total of 36,898 unduplicated recipients. Findings indicated that "spend-downers" comprised 27.2% of all elderly users. Once on Medicaid, spend downers exhibited similar nursing-home utilization patterns as other groups, but incurred lower Medicaid claims because they contributed more to the cost of their nursing-home care. In aggregate, the State of Michigan Medicaid program spent $75.4 million on nursing-home services in 1984 for elderly persons who spent down to eligibility in a nursing home. These data are relevant to state policy initiatives to reduce Medicaid spending for nursing-home care by encouraging potential spend downers to purchase long-term care insurance.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Children in need of Pharmacare: medication funding requests at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children.

OBJECTIVES: Although a national Pharmacare program ensuring access to and affordability of needed medications has repeatedly been cited as a priority to policymakers, 20% of families remain either uninsured or under-insured. The Hospital for Sick Children's Patient Amenities Fund (PAF) covers out-of-pocket medication expenses for inpatient and outpatient children. The research objectives were to 1) examine family demographics and socio-economic status (SES), the types of medications requested and government program process issues of PAF applicants in 1998 and 1999, and 2) describe trends in PAF requests from 1998 to 2000. METHODS: Data were extracted retrospectively from fund requests, charts and social work and discharge planning reports. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data and to examine time trends. RESULTS: Eighty-six applicants submitted 112 requests from 1998-1999. Most were for children with cancer, neurological disorders and transplant patients. Medication expenditures were 22,408 dollars in 1999, a 39% increase over 1998. Most requests came from two-parent nuclear families where one or both parents were employed. High deductibles, waiting time, application form complexity and request denials were cited as problems encountered with government drug plans. DISCUSSION: The findings suggest that for provinces that do not provide universal drug insurance programs, relying on a patchwork of government plans and community agencies may not be effective in ensuring easy and timely access to necessary medications for children.

Child↗
PubMed1975

Equity in paying for health care services under a national insurance system.

The debate over the future of the health care delivery system evolves around the policy issue of what constitutes a fair distribution of the medical services which are considered essential to prolonging life, curing disease, and relieving pain. A case can be made that a socially equitable distribution implies that consumption of medical services is independent of the consumer's income and payment for them unrelated to utilization. The present paper examines to what extent the provisions for financing a national health insurance system are likely to advance or hinder the fair distribution of health care services. Almost all bills specify a mix of direct (cost-shared) and indirect (prepaid) financing. When cost-sharing is based on the quantity of services or on the level of medical expenditure, it helps divert medical care and health insurance benefits to high-income persons at the expense of their low-or moderate-income counterparts. When indirect payments or premium levels are determined by insurance risks rather than by income, they may be too high for persons with moderate means, and are likely to exclude such persons from the national insurance program. When health insurance is tied to salaried employment, it discriminates against the unemployed and the self-employed. To rectify such inequities, some NHI proposals specify separate insurance plans for the disadvantaged. Such programs, which require income-testing to determine eligibility, are likely to be plagued by administrative complications currently engulfing other means-tested social welfare programs. The present paper makes some recommendations for the purpose of avoiding these difficulties and fostering equity in health care.

Deductibles and Coinsurance↗
PubMed2004

VEBAs--ordinary and necessary expenses--deductions and constructive dividends. Neonatology Associates, P.A. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue.

Contributions made by professional medical corporations into voluntary employee benefit program plans (VEBAs), which were well in excess of the cost of the term life insurance provided to the participants, were not ordinary and necessary business expenses, and the distributions of surplus cash to owner physicians upon conversion to individual policies constituted constructive dividends taxable to the individual taxpayers.

California↗
PubMed1979

Use of physician services under two prepaid plans.

Use of physician services under two prepaid plans offered to Stanford University staff is analyzed and compared. One is a Kaiser plan; under the other (Clinic plan), physician and outpatient ancillary services are provided by a predominantly fee-for-service group practice and hospital services are covered by a Blue Cross policy. The two plans provide much the same benefits but, in addition to the difference in their organization, they differ in their financial provisions. While the Kaiser plan has only a token copayment for office and home visits, the Clinic plan has a 25 per cent coinsurance provision applying to all physician and outpatient ancillary services. Despite these differences, the mean number of physician visits per year is the same for the two groups after account is taken of differences in age composition, socioeconomic status, health status, attitudes toward seeking care, length of plan membership, family size and satisfaction with the plan. However, when adjustment is also made for differences in physician affiliation, the Kaiser rate becomes half a visit higher than the Clinic rate. This is because under both plans, members who have a specific plan physician as regular source of care use more services than those without one, and because only 42 per cent of Kaiser members compared with 87 per cent of Clinic members stated that they had a specific plan physician.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1993

Options for small employers.

Although offering health benefits is very expensive, many employers (small, medium, and large) make health care purchasing decisions based on very little information. This is largely because employers have not taken the time to learn how to be knowledgeable health care purchasers. Higher health care costs result when employers: purchase programs and services that employees and their dependents do not need and seldom use; pay (unknowingly) for services not offered in their benefit plan; accept and pay for ineffective cost containment programs that increase (not decrease) health care costs (remember that cost containment is a business in itself); make standard recommended changes (e.g., increased copays or deductibles) to their benefit plans, hoping to reduce costs (the result has been higher costs for too many employees); fail to assess whether health plans and insurance companies have effective internal quality and cost management programs; use financial incentives to encourage employees and dependents to enroll in managed care plans without examining whether the health plan or insurer used quality criteria, high standards, and capable processes in developing provider networks. (Capable processes consistently deliver quality products or services.) Most health plans and insurance companies have chosen providers based on their willingness to discount their charges, which places all parties (health plans or insurance companies, employers, and patients) at risk. Most of the problems listed above could be avoided if small employers based their health care purchasing decisions on information obtained from a careful analysis of needs and expectations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Administrative Personnel↗
PubMed1999

A case study of point-of-service medical use in a managed care plan.

This study examines the extent of point-of-service use in a managed care plan using 1990 and 1991 proprietary claims data (excluding pharmacy claims) from a large, well-established individual practice association with a point-of-service option. Results show that approximately 12 percent of all claims were made by out-of-network providers, representing about 9 percent of the dollar value of all claims. This is about $131 per enrollee per year. While younger enrollees (i.e., 6-24 years of age) use fewer medical resources than do older enrollees, they tend to receive a greater share of their medical services from out-of-network providers. There is little difference between point-of-service use by males and females. Mental illness is the most common diagnosis for out-of-network claims, accounting for about 25 percent of the dollar value of out-of-network claims. Ninety-six percent of the out-of-network claims for this diagnosis category were made by providers with a specialty in psychiatry.

Cost Sharing↗
PubMed2004

Consumer attitudes and factors related to prescription switching decisions in multitier copayment drug benefit plans.

OBJECTIVES: To examine patient attitudes related to formulary medications and medication-related decision making in multitier copayment prescription drug plans. STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional retrospective analysis. METHODS: Data were collected via mail survey from a random sample of 25,008 members of a managed care organization. The selected members were enrolled in a variety of 2- and 3-tier copayment plans and were taking prescription medication to treat 1 or more of 5 chronic disease states. RESULTS: Most respondents did not believe that formulary drugs were safer or more effective than nonformulary drugs, but 39.7% thought that formulary drugs were relatively less expensive. Most respondents appeared willing to consider switching from a nonformulary drug to a formulary drug with a lower copayment. The percent of respondents who reported they would be very unlikely or unlikely to switch was only 15.3% for a new prescription and 24.2% for a refill prescription. Medication efficacy and physician opinion were important factors in plan members' switching decisions. Cost was an important factor for some members, but older plan members were less likely to report that cost was important. CONCLUSIONS: Multitier plan members generally believed that drugs are placed on the formulary for reasons of cost rather than safety or efficacy. Most plan members were receptive to switching from a nonformulary to a formulary medication, but financial incentives alone may not convince some plan members to make the switch.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Medicare: the basics.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Deductibles and Coinsurance↗
PubMed1991

Employer health care plan design and its effect on plan costs.

This study uses claims data from employers in the Houston Area Health Care Coalition (HAHCC) for 1985 through the first half of 1987 to examine the effect of health care plan attributes on health care costs. Plan attributes affect the site of care and the costs of care. Utilization review clearly was effective in reducing the demand for inpatient services, but that reduction was in large measure matched by increases in care in the outpatient setting. Restrictions on mental health benefits also shifted the site of care. In contrast, neither premium sharing nor the plan's deductible had a significant impact on total plan charges. The study results demonstrate the need to have a comprehensive cost management strategy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Cost containment and the quality of medical care: rationing strategies in an era of constrained resources.

The general public, physicians, and policy makers have all come to accept constraints on public expenditures for medical care as a reasonable means to redirect resources to competing sectors of national life, and to reflect changing political and social values. "Rationing" of facilities and services by explicit and implicit methods seems inevitable; the poor and disabled must not bear the brunt of stringency. The politics of competition and altered power relationships among providers offer new opportunities for system-wide reform.

Aged↗