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medpundit |
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Sunday, September 22, 2002Workers get a yearly contribution of, say, $2,000 from their employer that goes into a personal care account for their family. Workers then can use the money any way they want for medical expenses, with any money that's leftover rolling into their account for the next year. Employers typically couple that personal care account with a high-deductible insurance policy that will cover expenses above a certain level, for example, $3,000. Workers are responsible for paying out of their own pocket the $1,000 in medical expenses before the insurance coverage kicks in. The insurance policy typically would pay 80 percent to 90 percent of covered medical expenses, leaving workers subject to further out-of-pocket costs. This is a welcome step forward for the financially responsible practice of medicine. Patients do need to be made aware more aware of the costs of their choices. The most highly advertised and expensive drug isn't necessarily the best drug, and using the most sophisticated technological test at the immediate onset of an illness isn't necessarily the best care. Not every cough requires a chest x-ray, and not every low back pain requires an MRI. It'll be interesting to see how this pans out. posted by Sydney on 9/22/2002 11:45:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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