A study by Harvard Medical School researchers finds that the increasingly popular high-deductible health plans are discriminatory against women, leaving them with far higher out-of-pocket health bills than men. The researchers also found that adults 45-64, those with any chronic condition (such as asthma or high blood pressure), and children taking even one medication were likely to suffer financially in high-deductible plans. The study, to appear in the July 2007 issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, analyzed nationwide health spending data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. The researchers calculated the median annual medical costs of men, women, various age groups, and people with a variety of medical conditions.
The Harvard study is the first to show that most women will be financial losers under high-deductible plans. In 2006, the median health costs for women age 18-64 was about $1,000 higher than for men ($1,844 versus $847). The difference was particularly striking among young adults (18-44), with median expenditures for women being nearly threefold higher than for men ($1,266 versus $463). As expected, middle-aged adults had far higher expenses than did the young, making most of them financial losers in high-deductible plans. For those aged 45-64, the median expenditure was $1,849 for men and $2,871 for women.
“High-deductible plans punish women for having breasts and uteruses,” commented Steffie Woolhandler, MD, associate professor of medicine at Harvard and lead author of the study. “Our costs are higher than men’s because we need Pap tests, cervical cancer vaccine, mammograms, and birth control, and because pregnancy is expensive. When employers raise deductibles, they’re giving women a pay cut. And when politicians offer tax breaks for high-deductible plans, they’re discriminating against women.”
