Picking health coverage plan is a very stressful topic for many Americans. According to a survey Morning Consult conducted with CNBC of 2,200 US adults, almost a quarter of Americans say the monthly premium is the most important factor they use to determine which plan they will buy. It is a simple way of looking at things, because those consumers are also visualizing the money that will be coming out of their paycheck, without giving extra thought to what else comes along with that deal.
From that survey it was also shown that only 8% of respondents say that their biggest concern is a health plan’s deductible, which is the amount you are responsible to pay yourself within a year if you reach that amount by using your insurance. There is a growing need for Americans to understand the terminology of insurance policies, in order to truly know how their year will look like financially if they need treatments and care. There are a lot of misconceptions about health care and how much things really cost. When something major happens, one trip to the emergency room can cost thousands of dollars, with a blink of an eye. Unfortunately, these things are not foreseen and if they occur, one must seek care right away.
Jonathan Wiik, principal of health-care strategy at TransUnion Healthcare, explains that taking the deductible into consideration when purchasing health insurance is very important because it can be a huge expense that not every family can afford. He says that consumer mostly think of the monthly premium payments when they should be also calculating if they will be able to pay the deductible amount, if it comes to that.
Kim Buckey, vice president of client services at Direct Path, an organization that assists employees to make better health care decisions, states that consumers buy the lower monthly premium policy with the high deductible and prefer to take that chance and hope to stay healthy without having to use the insurance too much. However, the concern is that if something unexpected and serious happens, there will be a heavy price tag to pay. “When shopping for health insurance plans, look at the total cost of a plan when you’re trying to make a decision,” Buckey says.