Affordable Health Insurance May Be Better Than More Expensive Plans
The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a respected organization. Their conclusions are respected by…
The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a respected organization. Their conclusions are respected by most, especially those that appear in their annual State of Health Care Quality reports.
The latest NCQA findings are quite surprising. They indicate that the most expensive health insurance options may not be the best for health outcomes. The non-profit organization showed that many of the 1,000 health plans examined were associated with worse-than-average results, despite higher-than-average costs.
Private health insurance options, as well as Medicaid, were compared by using relative resource use. Relative resource use is intended to compare the likelihood that patients utilize doctor visits, hospital stays, 5 Healthy Habits and other health care resources with that of plans with similar patients in the same area. The report’s authors attempted to simultaneously examine quality and cost among five different medical conditions.
One of the most significant discoveries was that, while vaccination rates for children on Medicaid increased, they declined in 2009 by four percent for children covered by private health coverage. Logically, most people would assume that those covered by more affordable health insurance would result in decreased access to care: a significant portion of pediatricians and other doctors do not accept patients on public Medicaid insurance, due to lower reimbursement rates.
There may be another factor, though. The National Committee For Quality Assurance contends that some higher socio-economic status parents chose to forgo vaccines for their children. They may be more likely to buy into the unproven, virtually debunked theory that vaccinations cause autism. Lower-income parents may not know or believe this contention, touted by celebrities such as Jenny McCarthy. Skipping or delaying the vaccines may make children susceptible to serious illnesses, as what occurred in a California community when there was a recent outbreak of measles (a disease that has been nearly eradicated).
Either way, it is heartening to know that there are quality, Types Of Medical Treatment In India high-value affordable health insurance bargains out there.