High-Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs) | Murrieta
High-Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs) play an important role in the health benefits marketplace. Premiums are lower, which allows many employers, especially small businesses, to provide health benefits they might not otherwise be able to afford.
One of the companies SGB is aligned with provides the following information regarding HDHP.
Things You Should Know:
- High-deductible health plans (HDHPs) play an important role in the health benefits marketplace. Premiums are lower, which allows many employers, especially small businesses, to provide health benefits they might not otherwise be able to afford.
- HDHPs are one solution to the growing problem of the uninsured. New data show 27 percent of HDHPs with health savings accounts (HSAs) sold in the small group market were to employers that did not previously offer coverage to their employees.1
- HDHPs also help raise consumer awareness of the real costs of health care, which is having a positive impact on rising health care costs. Research also has shown that total health spending is reduced when consumers bear more responsibility for their health care expenses.2
Background
With health care costs continuing to rise at double-digit rates (11.2 percent in 2004), many employers have been forced to reduce benefits, shift more cost to employees or drop coverage entirely. Less than two-thirds of all employers now offer health insurance to their employees. Employee contributions to health care costs have increased 126 percent over the last five years.*3 HDHPs, with their lower premiums, offer employers an affordable choice when offering health benefits to their employees.
Call for a Quote on High Deductible Health Plans
How HDHPs Work
HDHPs give consumers a larger role in health-care-decision-making and create greater awareness of the rapidly increasing cost of health care services. With the exception of many preventive care services, covered employees must pay the deductible – a preset level of medical expenses – before most medical expenses are covered by the plan. HDHPs are often combined with an HSA or a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA), which help plan members meet their deductibles. These plans encourage greater cost awareness and responsible, informed decision-making with the help of consumer information tools.
The Aetna Difference
Aetna has expanded its benefits options to include HDHPs and a full range of consumer-directed plans through its Aetna HealthFund® family of products. Aetna also has introduced new coverage options for individuals and their families in a number of states. These Aetna Advantage PPO plans and high-deductible plans that are compatible with HSAs provide comprehensive, affordable coverage.
