Low-Income Americans With Employer-Sponsored Insurance Face Financial Burdens From High-Deductible Plans

Among enrollees in employer-sponsored insurance, those with family incomes below 250 percent of poverty were significantly more likely to experience financial burdens than middle- and high-income enrollees, according to a new AHRQ study. The likelihood of financial burdens increased sharply with plans that had higher deductible levels among low-income enrollees, according to the study, which appeared in the December issue of Health Affairs. Authors of the study, “The Financial Burdens of High-Deductible Plans,” used 2011-2013 data from AHRQ’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to conduct the analysis. They found that more than a quarter of low-income adults enrolled in employer-sponsored high-deductible plans faced family out-of-pocket insurance premiums and health care spending that exceeded 20 percent of after-tax family income. Access the study abstract.

VOL. 35| NO. 12December 2016Oral Health & More

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1. Alert me to new issues of Health Affairs

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• Medicare Payments For Medicaid Admissions
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• DATAWATCH: High-Deductible Plan Costs
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The Financial Burdens Of High-Deductible Plans

1. Salam Abdus1,*, 
2. Thomas M. Selden2 and 
3. Patricia Keenan3

+Author Affiliations

1. ¹Salam Abdus (salam.abdus@ahrq.hhs.gov) is a senior economist at the Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, in Rockville, MD.
2. ²Thomas M. Selden is director of the Division of Research and Modeling, Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
3. ³Patricia Keenan is a senior economist in the Office of the Director at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

1. ↵*Corresponding author

Abstract

The increased prevalence of high-deductible health plans raises concerns regarding high financial burdens from health care, particularly for low-income adults.