A Review of State Consumer Health Care Cost Websites

A Census of State Consumer Health Care Cost Websites

Background

High Deductible Health Plans (HDHP) • Relatively low premiums • $1,200 minimum for single deductible, and

minimum of $2,400 for family deductible • Can be linked to Health Savings Accounts (HSA)

• Tax-advantaged medical savings account

• Consumer driven health care

HDHPs may attract…

…The Young and Healthy …Those approaching Medicare age

…The Money Savvy

Concerns about HDHPs

• Foregone care

• Lack of cost transparency

• Financial burden

The Study…

Growing enrollment in HDHPs calls for more transparency. Consumers can’t make informed decisions without the necessary information. What information is available?

The Goal…

• Identify the number of state consumer health care costs websites

• Document and describe the information on these websites

• Determine the effectiveness of these websites to properly provide consumers with cost transparency

Data Collection Process

REDCap

• Google search: • Chose 10 key terms (e.g. “California health care costs”) • Went through first 100 websites

• National Conference of State Legislature (NCSL) article • State Hospital Associations • State Departments of Insurance • State Departments of Social Services • State Departments of Health

Online Search

My Role

• Worked on creation of the REDCap database and survey instrument

• Developed and refined the search strategy • Searched online for health care cost websites • Catalogued the information contained in the

health care cost websites

Findings

Preliminary findings suggest that there is a lack of consumer health care cost websites available: • Many states do not have any applicable websites • Most states have very few available websites • Many websites we found were not targeted for

consumers

Florida

California

Lessons Learned

• Research is a process • Change is inevitable

• Persistence is crucial