Current health insurance benefit designs that simply rely on higher, one-size-fits-all patient cost sharing have limited potential to curb rising costs, but innovations in benefit design can potentially make cost sharing a more effective tool, according to a study released by the Center for Studying Health System Change. Large employers and health plans have begun experimenting with such new benefit designs as providing incentives to encourage healthy behaviors and self-management; incentives that vary by service type, patient condition, or enrollee income; and incentives to use efficient providers.
“Most employers have not incorporated innovative designs into their health benefit offerings--and are not even in the planning stages, suggesting that the ability to use substantial cost sharing more effectively is many years off,” said Paul B. Ginsburg, PhD, co-author of the study and president of HSC. “This will limit the extent to which cost sharing can be used as a cost-control tool.”
