AMA prescribes actions to ease negative effects of high-deductible health plans

CHICAGO – Action from payers, employers, organized medicine, and researchers can alter the mounting financial and clinical barriers patients face as a result of high-deductible health plans, according to new policy adopted by the nation’s physicians at today’s Special Meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates. The new AMA policy outlines actions to promote innovative health plan designs and improve access to meaningful, affordable coverage.

As enrollment in high-deductible health plans has dramatically increased in recent years, more patients face significant out-of-pocket costs in the forms of copayment, coinsurance and pre-deductible expenses. The financial burden of these increased out-of-pocket costs causes many people to forgo necessary care, especially patients in marginalized communities or patients with multiple chronic conditions or lower socioeconomic status.