On November 15th, state-run health insurance marketplaces and the federal government’s HealthCare.gov opened for their second enrollment period. If you feel like you are paying more for healthcare in 2015, you are not alone. In 2015, employees will pay 55% more for health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket medical bills than they did in 2010. The average worker with employer-sponsored health insurance will pay about $2,664, or nearly 24% of the total cost of their plan next year. Five years ago, employees paid $1,835, which worked out to 22.3% of the total premium payment. Employees will also pay an average of $2,487 in out-of-pocket costs, such as copayments, coinsurance and deductibles next year. That’s nearly double what employees paid in 2009.
The vast majority of health insurance plans in 2015 will leave individuals with high out-of-pocket medical costs. High deductible plans can make it difficult and sometimes impossible for patients to afford treatment. A new survey from the Commonwealth Fund (PDF) found that three in five low-income adults and about half of adults with moderate incomes believe their deductibles are “difficult or impossible to afford.” About 13% of Americans spend 10% or more of their income on out-of-pocket healthcare costs as well. The results of this survey show that these trends toward greater cost sharing, merged with little or no growth in median family income, have left many working Americans in the middle and lower end of the income distribution with large healthcare costs.
American HealthCare Lending, (AHCL) the leading patient financing platform serving health systems, physician groups, surgical centers, and other healthcare providers, has the solution for this emerging problem. AHCL’s patient financing platform helps to make health care more affordable by offering loans for high deductibles and large out of pocket expenses. Having a deductible financing resource for patients in medical offices is critical in this day and age. This allows individuals to receive the treatments they need at the time they need regardless of their out of pocket responsibility. Not only can American HealthCare Lending make treatments more affordable through a high deductible loan program, but the process is so easy and fast that patients can receive a decision in less than two minutes, and they can complete that process from any device; smartphone, computer, or tablet.
