Having health insurance is essential to maintaining your physical and mental wellbeing. While health care costs vary from person to person, there are many ways to manage your costs. This article discusses some of the ways you can reduce your out-of-pocket expenses.
Primary care
Among the many services provided by health care providers, primary care is a key element. This type of health care focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of illness, injury and disease. The functions and characteristics of primary care are based on scientific and socially acceptable practices.
. It is essential to understand the significance of primary care. Several countries have taken efforts to strengthen their delivery of primary care. In 1999, the WHO emphasized the importance of primary care in its Ljubljana charter.
In Canada, primary care is delivered by family physicians and other general medical practitioners. The Federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services created the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative (CPC) to improve the quality and accessibility of health care. The CPC is a partnership between commercial health plans and primary care providers to deliver health care more cost-effectively.
Quaternary care
Often referred to as tertiary care, quaternary care is a specialized form of medical care. This type of care provides treatment for a wide range of diseases, including those that are rare and complicated. Generally, quaternary care is only offered at medical centers that specialize in treating a specific condition.
Quaternary care involves the use of advanced medical equipment and techniques. These may include experimental treatments and diagnostics. Typically, quaternary care is only used when traditional treatments fail to work.
Despite its importance, quaternary care is not widely available. It is offered in only a small number of regional health centers. These facilities usually serve a very specific patient population, but can be used as an extension of tertiary care.
Patients who need quaternary care often live far from their referral center. The distance translates to longer hospital stays and increased risk of complications. It also delays preoperative diagnoses.
For the high-risk population, it is critical to improve coordination of care. However, new models must account for the patient’s location, along with the need for risk corridors and service line integration.
Cost-sharing
Despite solid empirical evidence of its ineffectiveness, cost-sharing in health care continues to persist. Many health economists still accept the conventional theory that a higher percentage of insurance costs can be covered by people who have a higher deductible or copayment. However, this theory fails to contain the rising costs of health care. It also ignores serious concerns within the health policy community.
One of the main reasons for this is the cost-sharing requirements that are associated with most insurance offerings. There are many ways that cost-sharing can be implemented, including direct payments, copayments, and deductibles.
The most significant change in cost-sharing in the Netherlands is the introduction of deductibles in 2008. Between 2011 and 2013, the average deductible increased by more than double. This translates into a corresponding increase in premiums.
The study compared a cohort of patients with indemnity health insurance to a group of patients who did not have any health insurance. The results showed that patients in the former group were less likely to visit the emergency department, hospitalize, or take medications than the latter.
Out-of-pocket spending
Using cross-country macroeconomic data, the present study examined the relationship between out-of-pocket spending on health care and poverty. The results indicate that the threshold effect of out-of-pocket health expenditure on poverty is unchanged.
Using dynamic panel threshold regression techniques, the researchers found that out-of-pocket health care spending is associated with increasing poverty. Specifically, the 1% increase in out-of-pocket spending increased the headcount of the poor by 1.8%. In addition, the poverty gap index increased by 2%. The findings suggest that further out-of-pocket spending will further increase poverty.
The present study used the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data from 2009 to 2011. The sample consisted of 9,296 adults aged 21 and over. A large percentage of the sample had three or more chronic conditions. Out-of-pocket spending was highest for individuals with arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, or hypertension. However, the effects were significantly different in two countries. In the US, out-of-pocket spending was higher for elderly Americans than South Koreans.
