Cost sharing and the changing pattern of employer-sponsored health benefits.
The perception that employers have been redesigning group health benefits to encourage more cost-effective use is distorted by limited study methods. New estimates of initiatives undertaken by larger private-sector employers--based on nationally representative data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics--reveal a more uncertain picture of cost containment. Cost sharing for initial hospital stays was broadened between 1981 and 1985, but coverage in most other areas--categories of care, lifetime benefit limits, etc.--was actually increased. Real health care expenditures will continue to grow absent more significant employee cost sharing.
Jensen
G A
GA
School of Public Health, University of Illinois, Chicago 60680.
Morrisey
M A
MA
Marcus
J W
JW
D003256:Community Participation; D003363:Cost Control; D003625:Data Collection; D003669:Deductibles and Coinsurance; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006264:Health Benefit Plans, Employee / Q000639:trends*; D007342:Insurance Benefits; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000639:trends*; D014481:United States